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THE 


TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 
174* 


BY 

SAMUEL   ADAMS   DRAKE 

AUTHOR  OF  "  BURGOYNE'S  INVASION  OF  1777"  ETC. 


BOSTON   MDCCCXCI 
LEE    AND    SHEPARD    PUBLISHERS 

IO  MILK  STREET  NEXT  "  THE  OLD  SOUTH  MEETING  HOUSE  " 

NEW  YORK  CHAS.  T.  DILLINGHAM 

718  AND  720   BROADWAY 


COPYRIGHT,  1890, 
Bv  LEE  AND  SHEPARD. 

THE  TAKING  OF   LOUISBUKG. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    COLONIAL  SEACOAST  DEFENCES     ....  g 

II.    LOUISBURG  REVISITED 13 

III.  LOUISBURG  TO  SOLVE  IMPORTANT  POLITICAL  AND 

MILITARY  PROBLEMS 24 

IV.  RESUME  OF   EVENTS  TO  THE  DECLARATION    OF 

WAR 33 

V.    "  LOUISBURG  MUST  BE  TAKEN  "      ....  46 

VI.    THE  ARMY  AND  ITS  GENERAL       ....  59 

VII.    THE  ARMY  AT  CANSO 73 

VIII.    THE  SIEGE 80 

IX.    THE  SIEGE  CONTINUED  .        .        .        .        •        .  101 

X.    AFTERTHOUGHTS                      126 


THE  TAKING  OF   LOUISBURG 

1745 


COLONIAL    SEACOAST    DEFENCES 

THE  creation  of  great  maritime  fortresses, 
primarily  designed  to  hold  with  iron  hand  impor- 
tant highways  of  commerce,  like  Gibraltar,  or 
simply  to  guard  great  naval  arsenals,  like 
Kronstadt,  or,  again,  placed  where  some  great  river 
has  cleft  a  broad  path  into  the  heart  of  a 
country,  thus  laying  it  open  to  invasion,  has  long 
formed  part  of  the  military  policy  of  all  .maritime 
nations, 

In  the  New  World  the  Spaniards  were  the  first 
to  emphasize  their  adhesion  to  these  essential 
principles  by  the  erection  of  strongholds  at 
Havana,  Carthagena,  Porto  Bello,  and  Vera  Cruz, 
not  more  to  guarantee  the  integrity  of  their  colo- 


IO  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

nial  possessions,  than  to  protect  themselves 
against  the  rapacity  of  the  titled  freebooters  of 
Europe,  to  whom  the  treasure  fleets  of  Mexico 
and  the  East  offered  a  most  alluring  prey.  When 
Spain  carried  the  purse,  all  the  crowned  heads  of 
Europe  seem  to  have  turned  highwaymen. 

With  this  single  exception  the  seaboard  defences 
of  the  Atlantic  coast,  even  as  late  as  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  were  of  the  most  trivial 
character,  nor  was  it  owing  to  any  provision  for 
defence  that  the  chief  ports  of  the  English 
colonies  enjoyed  the  long  immunity  they  did. 
England  left  her  colonies  to  stand  or  fall  upon 
their  own  resources.  Fortunate  beyond  expecta- 
tion, they  simply  throve  by  neglect.  France,  with 
a  widely  different  colonial  policy,  did  a  little  better, 
but  with  a  niggardly  hand,  while  her  system  was 
squeezing  the  life-blood  out  of  her  colonists,  drop 
by  drop.  Had  there  been  a  Drake  or  a  Hawkins 
in  the  Spanish  service,  Spain  might  easily  have 
revenged  all  past  affronts  by  laying  desolate  every 
creek  and  harbor  of  the  unprotected  North 
Atlantic  coast.  She  had  the  armed  ports,  as  we 
have  just  shown.  She  had  the  ships  and  sailors. 


COLONIAL    SEACOAST    DEFENCES  1 1 

What,  then,  was  to  have  prevented  her  from 
destroying  the  undefended  villages  of  Charleston, 
Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Boston  ? 

Though  she  set  about  it  so  tardily,  France  was 
at  length  compelled  to  adopt  a  system  of  defence 
for  Canada,  or  see  Canada  wrested  from  her  con- 
trol. In  a  most  sweeping  sense  the  St.  Lawrence 
was  the  open  gateway  of  Canada.  There  was 
absolutely  no  other  means  of  access  to  all  its  vast 
territory  except  through  the  long,  little  known, 
and  scarce-travelled  course  of  the  Mississippi  —  a 
route  which,  for  many  reasons  besides  its  isolation, 
removed  it  from  consideration  as  an  avenue  of 
att'ack._ 

Quebec  was  as  truly  the  heart  of  Canada  as  the 
St.  Lawrence  was  its  great  invigorating,  life- 
giving  artery.  It  is  true  that  Quebec  began  to 
assume  at  a  very  early  day  something  of  its  later 
character  as  half  city,  half  fortress,  but  the  views 
of  its  founders  were  unquestionably  controlled  as 
much  by  the  fact  of  remoteness  from  the  sea,  as 
by  Quebec's  remarkable  natural  capabilities  for 
blocking  the  path  to  an  enemy. 

Yet  even  before  the  memorable   and  decisive 


12  THE   TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

battle  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  by  which  Canada 
was  lost  to  France  forever,  the  St.  Lawrence  had 
been  thrice  ascended  by  hostile  fleets,  and  Quebec 
itself  once  taken  by  them.  Mere  remoteness  was 
thus  demonstrated  to  be  no  secure  safeguard 
against  an  enterprising  enemy.  But  what  if  that 
enemy  should  seize  and  fortify  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  itself?  He  would  have  put  a 
tourniquet  upon  the  great  artery,  to  be  tightened 
at  his  pleasure,  and  the  heart  of  the  colony,  despite 
its  invulnerable  shield,  would  beat  only  at  his 
dictation. 

We  will  now  pass  on  to  the  gradual  develop- 
ment of  this  idea  in  the  minds  of  those  who  held 
the  destiny  of  Canada  in  their  keeping. 


LOUISBURG    REVISITED  13 


II 


LOUISBURG    REVISITED 

THE  annals  of  a  celebrated  fortress  are  sure  to 
present  some  very  curious  and  instructive  phases 
of  national  policy  and  character.  Of  none  of  the 
fortresses  of  colonial  America  can  this  be  said 
with  greater  truth  than  of  Louisburg,  once  the 
key  and  stronghold  of  French  power  in  Canada. 

No  historic  survey  can  be  called  complete  which 
does  not  include  the  scene  itself.  Nowhere  does 
the  reality  of  history  come  home  to  us  with  such 
force,  or  leave  such  deep,  abiding  impressions,  as 
when  we  stand  upon  ground  where  some  great 
action  has  been  performed,  or  reach  a  spot  hal- 
lowed by  the  golden  memories  of  the  past.  It 
gives  tone,  color,  consistency  to  the  story  as  noth- 
ing else  can,  and,  for  the  time  being,  we  almost 
persuade  ourselves  that  we,  too,  are  actors  in  the 
great  drama  itself. 


14  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

It  is  doubtless  quite  true  that  the  first  impres- 
sions one  gets  when  coming  into  Louisburg  from 
sea  must  be  altogether  disappointing.  Indeed, 
speaking  for  myself,  I  had  formed  a  vague  notion, 
I  know  not  how,  that  I  was  going  to  see  another 
Quebec,  or,  at  least,  something  quite  like  that  an- 
tique stronghold,  looming  large  in  the  distance, 
just  as  the  history  of  the  fortress  itself  looms  up 
out  of  its  epoch.  On  the  contrary,  we  saw  a  low, 
tame  coast,  without  either  prominent  landmark  or 
seamark  to  denote  the  harbor,  except  to  those  who 
The  cape  know  every  rock  and  tree  upon  it,  lift- 
Breton  coast.  jng  nownere  the  castellated  ruins  that 
one's  eyes  are  strained  to  seek,  and  chiefly  formi- 
dable now  on  account  of  the  outlying  shoals, 
sunken  reefs,  and  intricate  passages  that  render 
the  navigation  both  difficult  and  dangerous  to 
seamen. 

On  drawing  in  toward  the  harbor,  we  pass  be- 
tween a  cluster  of  three  small,  rocky  islets  at  the 
Lighthouse  left  hand,  one  of  which  is  joined  to  that 
shore  by  a  sunken  reef ;  and  a  rocky 
point,  of  very  moderate  elevation,  at  the  right,  on 
which  the  harbor  lighthouse  stands,  the  ship  chan- 


LOUISBURG    REVISITED  15 

nel  being  thus  compressed  to  a  width  of  half  a  mile 
between  the  innermost  island  and  point. 

The  harbor  is  so  spacious  as  to  seem  deserted, 
and  so  still  as  to  seem  oppressive. 

The  island  just  indicated  was,  in  the  days  of  the 
Anglo-French  struggles  here,  the  key  to  this  har- 
isiand  kor,  but  the  opposite  point  proved  the 

Battery.  master-key.  Neither  of  the  great  war 
fleets  that  took  part  in  the  two  sieges  of  Louis- 
burg  ventured  to  pass  the  formidable  batteries  of 
that  island,  commanding  as  they  did  the  entrance 
at  short  range,  and  masking  the  city  behind  them, 
until  their  fire  had  first  been  silenced  from  the 
lighthouse  point  yonder.  When  that  was  done, 
Louisburg  fell  like  the  ripe  pear  in  autumn. 

The  old  French  city  and  fortress,  the  approach 
to  which  this  Island  Battery  thus  securely  covered, 
Old  rose  at  the  southwest  point  of  the  har- 

Louisburg.  korj  or  on  the  gfje  opposite  to  the  pres- 
ent town  of  Louisburg,  which  is  a  fishing  and 
coaling  station  for  six  months  in  the  year,  and  for 
the  other  six  counts  for  little  or  nothing.  In 
summer  it  is  land-locked ;  in  winter,  ice-locked. 
Pack  ice  frequently  blockades  the  shores  of  the 


l6  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

whole  island  until  May,  and  snow  sometimes  lies 
in  the  woods  until  June.  Yet  in  Cape  Breton  they 
call  Louisburg  an  open  harbor,  and  its  choice  as 
the  site  for  a  fortress  finally  turned  upon  the 
belief  that  it  was  accessible  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year.  As  to  that,  we  shall  see  later. 

As  for  the  country  lying  between  Sydney  and 
Louisburg,  all  travellers  agree  in  pronouncing  it 
wholly  without  interesting  features.  And  the  few 
inhabitants  are  scarcely  more  interesting  than  the 
country.  In  a  word,  it  is  roughly  heaved  about  in 
Face  of  the  a  series  of  shaggy  ridges,  sometimes 
country.  rising  to  a  considerable  height,  through 
which  the  Mira,  an  arm  of  the  sea,  forces  its  way 
at  flood-tide.  There  is  a  settlement  or  two  upon 
this  stream,  as  there  was  far  back  in  the  time  of 
the  French  occupation,  but  everything  about  the 
country  wears  a  forlorn  and  unprosperous  look  ; 
the  farms  being  few  and  far  between,  the  houses 
poor,  the  land  thin  and  cold,  and  the  people  —  I 
mean  them  no  disparagement  —  much  like  the  land, 
from  which  they  get  just  enough  to  live  upon,  and 
no  more.  Fortunately  their  wants  are  few,  and 
their  habits  simple. 


LOUISBURG    REVISITED  I/ 

Louisburg  is  certainly  well  worth  going  nine 
hundred  miles  to  see,  but  when,  at  last,  one  stands 
Remains  of  on  the  grass-grown  ramparts,  and  gets 
the  Fortress.  fas  ft^  serjous  jdea  of  their  amazing 

strength  and  extent,  curiosity  is  lost  in  wonder, 
wonder  gives  way  to  reflection,  and  reflection  leads 
straight  to  the  question,  "  What  do  all  these  miles 
of  earthworks  mean  ? "  And  I  venture  to  make 
the  assertion  that  no  one  who  has  ever  been  to 
Louisburg  will  rest  satisfied  till  he  has  found  his 
answer.  The  story  is  long,  but  one  rises  from  its 
perusal  with  a  clearer  conception  of  the  nature  of 
the  struggle  for  the  mastery  of  a  continent. 

Perhaps  the  one  striking  thought  about  this  place 
is  its  utter  futility.  Man  having  no  further  use 
for  it,  nature  quietly  reclaims  it  for  her  own  again. 
Sheep  now  walk  the  ramparts  instead  of  sentinels. 

Upon  looking  about  him,  one  sees  the  marked 
feature  of  all  this  region  in  the  chain  of  low  hills 
Dominating  rising  behind  Louisburg.  But  a  little 
Hills-  back  from  the  coast  the  hills  rise  higher, 

are  drawn  more  compactly  together,  and  assume 
the  semi-mountainous  character  common  to  the 
whole  island. 


1 8  THE   TAKING   OF    LOU1SBURG 

As  this  chain  of  hills  undulates  along  the  coast 

here,  sometimes  bending  a  little  back  from  it,  or 

again  inclining  out  toward  it,  one  of  its 

Green  Hill. 

zigzags  approaches  within  a  mile  of 
Louisburg.  At  this  point,  several  low,  lumpy 
ridges  push  off  for  the  seashore,  through  long 
reaches  of  boggy  moorland,  now  and  then  disap- 
pearing beneath  a  shallow  pond  or  stagnant  pool, 
which  lies  glistening  among  the  hollows  between. 
Where  it  is  uneven  the  land  is  stony  and  unfer- 
tile ;  where  level,  it  is  a  bog.  This  rendered  the 
land  side  as  unfavorable  to  a  besieging  force  as 
the  nest  of  outlying  rocks  and  reefs  did  the  sea 
approaches.  A  continued  rainfall  must  have 
made  it  wholly  untenable  for  troops. 

It  is  one  of  these  ridges  just  noticed  as  breaking 
away  from  the  main  range  toward  the  seashore, 
and  so  naturally  bent,  also,  as  to  touch  the  sea  at 

The  Fortified  one  en<^  an^  ^he  harbor  at  the  other, 
Line.  that  foe  French  engineers  converted 

into  a  regular  fortification  ;  while  within  the  space 
thus  firmly  enclosed  by  both  nature  and  art,  the 
old  city  of  the  lilies  stretched  down  a  gentle, 
grassy  slope  to  the  harbor  shore. 


LOUISBURG    REVISITED  19 

Not  one  stone  of  this  city  remains  upon  another 
to-day.  After  the  second  siege  (1758)  the  English 
Demolition  of  engineers  were  ordered  to  demolish  it, 
the  city.  anc^  SQ  £ar  as  present  appearances  go, 

never  was  an  order  more  effectually  carried  out. 
All  that  one  sees  to-day,  in  room  of  it,  is  a  poor 
fishing  hamlet,  straggling  along  the  edge  of  the 
harbor,  the  dwellings  being  on  one  side,  and  the 
fish-houses  and  stages  on  the  other  side  of  the  Syd- 
ney road,  which  suddenly  contracts  into  a  lane, 
and  then  comes  to  an  end,  along  with  the  village 
itself,  in  a  fisherman's  back-yard. 

Not  so,  however,  with  the  still  massive  earth- 
works, for  the  British  engineers  were  only  able, 
after  many  months'  labor,  and  with  a  liberal  use 
of  powder,  to  partly  execute  the  work  of  demoli- 
tion assigned  them. 

I  spent  several  hours,  at  odd  times,  in  wandering 
about  these  old  ruins,  and  could  not  help  being 
thankful  that  for  once,  at  least,  the  destroying 
hand  of  man  had  been  compelled  to  abandon  its 
work  to  the  rains  and  frosts  of  heaven. 

Beginning  with  the  citadel,  in  which  the  formali- 
ties of  the  surrender  took  place,  I  found  it  still 


2O  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

quite  well  defined,  although  nothing  now  remains 
above  ground  except  some  old  foundation  walls  to 
citadel  or  show  where  long  ranges  of  stone  builcl- 
King's  Bastion.  jngs  once  stOod.  Here  were  the  differ- 
ent military  offices,  the  officers'  quarters  and  the 
chapel.  The  shattered  bomb-proofs,  however, 
were  still  distinguishable,  though  much  choked  up 
with  debris,  and  their  well-turned  arches  remain 
The  case-  to  snow  now  firmly  the  solid  masonry 
mates.  resisted  the  assaults  of  the  engineers. 

In  these  damp  holes  the  women,  children,  and 
non-combatants  passed  most  of  the  forty-seven 
days  of  the  siege.  From  this  starting-point  one 
may  continue  the  walk  along  the  ramparts,  without 
once  quitting  them,  for  fully  a  mile,  to  the  point 
where  they  touch  the  seashore  among  the 
inaccessible  rocks  and  heaving  surf  of  the  ocean 
itself. 

These  ramparts  nowhere  rise  more  than  fifty  feet 
above  the  sea-level,  but  are  everywhere  of  amazing 
thickness  and  solidity.  The  moat  was  originally 
eighty  feet  across,  and  the  walls  stood  thirty  feet 
above  it,  but  these  dimensions  have  been  much 
reduced  by  the  work  of  time  and  weather.  A 


LOUISBURG    REVISITED  21 

considerable  part  of  the  line  was  further  defended 
by  a  marsh,  through  which  a  storming  column 
would  have  found  it  impossible  to  advance,  and 
hardly  less  difficult  to  make  a  retreat.  The 
besiegers  were  therefore  obliged  to  concentrate 
their  attack  upon  one  or  two  points,  and 

Natural  Ob- 
stacles made    these     had     been     rendered     the     most 

formidable  of  the  whole  line  in  conse- 
quence of  the  knowledge  that  the  other  parts  were 
comparatively  unassailable.  In  other  words,  the 
besieged  were  able  to  control,  in  a  measure,  where 
the  besiegers  should  attack  them. 

Although  the  partly  ruined  bomb-proofs  are  the 
only  specimens  of  masonry  now  to  be  seen  in 
making  this  tour,  the  broad  and  deep  excavation 
of  the  moat  and  covered-way,  and  the  clean,  well- 
grassed  slopes  of  the  glacis,  promise  to  hold 
together  for  another  century  at  least.  Brambles 
and  fallen  earth  choke  up  the  embrasures.  It  is 
necessary  to  use  care  i«  order  to  avoid  treading 
upon  a  toad  or  a  snake  while  you  are  groping 
among  the  mouldy  casemates  or  when  crossing 
the  parade.  Those  magical  words  "  In  the  King's 
name,"  so  often  proclaimed  here  with  salvos  of 


22  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

artillery,  have  now  no  echo  except  in  the  sullen 
dash  of  the  sea  against  the  rocky  shores  outside 
the  perishing  fortress,  and 

"  What  care  these  roarers  for  the  name  of  King?" 

Still  following  the  sheep-paths  that  zigzag  about 

so  as  nearly  to  double  the  distance,  I  next  turned 

back  toward  the  harbor,  leaving  on  my  right  the 

bleak  and  wind-swept  field  in  which,  to 

Graveyard, 

Point  Roche-  the  lasting  reproach  of  New  England, 

fort. 

five  hundred  of  her  bravest  sons  lie 
without  stone  or  monument  to  mark  their  last 
resting-place.  It  is  true  that  most  of  these  men 
died  of  disease,  and  not  in  battle ;  yet  to  see  the 
place  as  I  saw  it,  in  all  its  pitiful  nakedness, 
isolation,  and  neglect,  is  the  one  thing  at 
Louisburg  that  a  New  Englander  would  gladly 
have  missed  ;  and  he  will  be  very  apt  to  walk  on 
with  a  slower  and  less  confident  step,  and  with 
something  less  of  admiration  for  the  glory  which 
consigns  men  to  such  oblivion  as  this. 

To  give  anything  like  an  adequate  idea  of  how 
skilfully  all  the  peculiarities  of  the  ground  were 
in  some  cases  made  use  of  in  forming  the 


LOUISBURG    REVISITED  23 

defences,  or  in  others,  with  equal  art,  overcome, 
would  require  a  long  chapter  to  itself.  In  order 
to  render  the  main  fortress  more  secure,  the 
French  engineer  officers  selected  a  spot  three- 
fourths  of  a  mile  above  it,  on  the  harbor  shore, 
Ro  al  on  which  they  erected  a  battery  that 

Battery.  raked  the  open  roadstead  with  its  fire. 
It  was  a  very  strong  factor  in  the  system  of 
defences  as  against  a  sea  attack.  This  isolated 
work  was  called  the  Royal  Battery,  or  in  the 
English  accounts,  the  Grand  Battery.  Yet,  so  far 
from  contributing  to  the  successful  defence  of  the 
fortress,  it  became,  in  the  hands  of  the  besiegers, 
a  powerful  auxiliary  to  its  capture.  But  the  whole 
system  of  defence  here  shows  that  the  marshes 
extending  on  the  side  of  Gabarus  Bay,  where  a 
landing  was  practicable  only  in  calm  weather, 
were  considered  an  insuperable  obstacle  to  the 
movements  of  artillery ;  and  without  artillery 
Louisburg  could  never  have  been  seriously 
attacked  from  the  land  side.  Against  a  sea 
attack  it  was  virtually  impregnable. 


24  THE   TAKING   OF    LOUISBURG 


III 


LOUISBURG    TO    SOLVE    IMPORTANT    POLITICAL    AND 
MILITARY    PROBLEMS 

HAVING  glanced  at  the  purely  military  exigen- 
cies, which  had  at  length  forced  themselves  upon 
the  attention  of  French  statesmen,  and  having 
gone  over  the  ground  with  the  view  of  impressing 
its  topographical  features  more  firmly  in  our  minds, 
we  may  now  look  at  the  underlying  political  and 
economic  causes,  out  of  which  the  French  court 
finally  matured  a  scheme  for  the  maintenance  of 
their  colonial  possessions  in  Canada  in  the  broadest 
sense. 

In  creating  Louisburg  the  court  of  Versailles 
had  far  more  extended  views  than  the  building  of 
a  strong  fortress  to  guard  the  gateway  into  Canada 
would  of  itself  imply.  Unquestionably  that  was 
a  powerful  inducement  to  the  undertaking ;  but, 
in  the  beginning,  it  certainly  appears  to  have  been 


POLITICAL    AND    MILITARY    PROBLEMS  25 

only  a  secondary  consideration.  For  a  long  time 
the  condition  of  affairs  in  the  colony  had  been  far 
French  Colo-  from  satisfactory,  while  the  future  prom- 
mai  system.  jse(j  \fa\Q  that  was  encouraging.  ,  Com- 
pared with  the  English  colonies,  its  progress  was 
slow,  irregular,  and  unstable.  Agriculture  was 
greatly  neglected.  So  were  manufactures.  The 
home  government  had  exercised,  from  the  first, 
a  guardianship  that  in  the  long  run  proved  fatal  to 
the  growth  of  an  independent  spirit.  There  were 
swarms  of  governmental  and  ecclesiastical  depend- 
ents who  laid  hold  of  the  fattest  perquisites,  or 
else,  through  munificent  and  inconsiderate  grants 
obtained  from  the  crown,  enjoyed  monopolies  of 
trade  to  the  exclusion  of  legitimate  competition. 
These  leeches  were  sucking  the  life-blood  out  of 
Canada.  So  far,  then,  from  being  a  self-sustaining 
colony,  the  annual  disbursements  of  the 

Its  Unsatis- 
factory Work-  crown   were   looked   to   as   a  means   to 

make  good  the  deficiency  arising  be- 
tween what  the  country  produced  and  what  it  con- 
sumed. Without  protection  the  English  colonies 
steadily  advanced  in  wealth  and  population  ;  with 
protection,  Canada,  settled  at  about  the  same  time, 
scarcely  held  her  own. 


26  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

Two  very  able  and  sagacious  men,  the  intend- 
ants  Raudot,  were  the  first  who  had  the  courage 
to  lay  before  the  court  of  Versailles  the  true  con- 
dition of  affairs,  and  the  ability  to  suggest  a 
remedy  for  it. 

These  intendants  represented  that  the  fur  trade 
had  always  engrossed  the  attention  of  the  Cana- 
The  Fur  Trade  dians,  to  the  exclusion  of  everything 
Monopoly.  G\SQ  ^of  Qn\y  na(j  fae  beaver  skin 

become  the  recognized  standard  for  all  exchanges 
of  values,  but  the  estimated  annual  product  of  the 
country  was  based  upon  it,  very  much  as  we  should 
reckon  the  worth  of  the  grain  crop  to  the  United 
States  to-day.  It  was  also  received  in  payment 
for  revenues.  Now,  after  a  long  experience,  what 
was  the  result  of  an  exclusive  attention  to  this 
traffic  ?  It  wag  shown  that  the  fur  trade  enriched 
no  one  except  a  few  merchants,  who  left  the  coun- 
try as  soon  as  they  had  acquired  the  means  of 
living  at  their  ease  in  Old  France.  It  had,  there- 
fore, no  element  whatever  of  permanent  advantage 
to  the  colony. 

It  was  also  shown  that  this  fur  trade  was  by  no 
means  sufficient  to  sustain  a  colony  of  such  impor- 


POLITICAL    AND    MILITARY    PROBLEMS  2/ 

tance   as    Canada   unquestionably   might    become 

under   a   different   system    of    management ;   for 

whether  the  beaver  should   finally  be- 

Danger  of  Ex- 
clusive Atten-  come  extinct  through  the  greed  of  the 

tion  to  it. 

traders,  or  so  cheapened  by  glutting  the 
market  abroad  as  to  lose  its  place  in  commerce 
entirely,  it  was  evident  that  precisely  the  same 
result  would  be  reached.  In  any  case,  the  busi- 
ness was  a  precarious  one.  It  limited  the  number 
of  persons  who  could  be  profitably  employed ;  it 
bred  them  up  to  habits  of  indolence  and  vice  with- 
out care  for  the  future  ;  and  it  kept  them  in  igno- 
rance and  poverty  to  the  last.  But,  what  was 
worst  of  all,  this  all-engrossing  pursuit  kept  the 
population  from  cultivating  the  soil,  the  true  and 
only  source  of  prosperity  to  any  country. 

Other  cogent  reasons  were  given,  but  these 
most  conclusively  set  forth  what  a  mercantile 
monopoly  having  its  silent  partners  in  the  local 
government  and  church,  as  well  as  in  the  royal 
palace  itself,  had  been  able  to  do  in  the  way  of 
retarding  the  development  of  the  great  native 
resources  of  Canada.  It  was  so  ably  done  that  no 
voice  was  raised  against  it.  And  with  this  most 


28  ^  THE   TAKING   OF   LOUISBURG 

lucid  and  fearless  expose"  of  the  puerile  use  thus 
far  made  of  those  resources  the  memorialist  states- 
men hoped  to  open  the  king's  eyes. 

They  now  proposed  to  wholly  reorganize  this 

unsound  commercial  system"  by  directing  capital 

and   labor   into   new   channels.       Such 

The  two  Rau- 

dotsoffera      natural   productions  of   the  country  as 

Remedy.  ,   . 

masts,  boards,  ship-timber,  flax,  hemp, 
plaster,  iron  and  copper  ores,  dried  fish,  whale  and 
seal  oils,  and  salted  meats,  might  be  exported,  they 
said,  with  profit  to  the  merchant  and  advantage  to 
the  laboring  class,  provided  a  suitable  port  were 
secured,  at,  once  safe,  commodious,  and  well  situ- 
ated for  collecting  all  these  commodities,  and 
shipping  them  abroad. 

To  this  end,  these  intendants  now  first  brought 

to  notice  the  advantages  of  Cape  Breton  for  such 

an    establishment.      Strangely   enough, 

Cape  Breton 

brought  to  up  to  this  time  little  or  no  attention  had 
been  paid  to  this  island.  Three  or  four 
insignificant  fishing  ports  existed  on  its  coasts, 
but  as  yet  the  whole  interior  was  a  shaggy  wilder- 
ness, through  which  the  Micmac  Indians  roamed 
as  freely  as  their  fathers  had  done  before  Cartier 


POLITICAL    AND    MILITARY    PROBLEMS  29 

ascended  the  St.  Lawrence.  Its  valuable  deposits 
of  coal  and  gypsum  lay  almost  untouched  in  their 
native  beds ;  its  stately  timber  trees  rotted  where 
they  grew ;  its  unrivalled  water-ways,  extending 
through  the  heart  of  the  island,  served  no  better 
purpose  than  as  a  highway  for  wandering  savages. 
By  creating  such  a  port  as  the  Raudots  sug- 
gested, the  voyage  from  France  would  be  short- 
ened one  half,  and  the  dangerous  navigation  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  altogether  avoided,  since,  instead  of 
large  ships  having  to  continue  their  voyages  to 
Quebec,  the  carrying  trade  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
would  fall  to  coasting  vessels  owned  in  the  colony. 
A  strong  hand  would  also  be  given  to 

Acadia  to  be 

helped.  the   neighbor   province,  the  fertile  yet 

unprotected  Acadia,  which  might  thus  be  pre- 
served against  the  designs  of  the  English,  while  a 
thriving  trade  in  wines,  brandies,  linens,  and  rich 
stuffs  might  reasonably  be  expected  to  spring  up 
with  the  neighboring  English  colonies. 

These  were  considerations  of  such  high  national 
importance  as  to  at  once  secure  for  the  project  an 
attention  which  purely  strategic  views  could  hardly 
be  expected  to  command.  And  yet,  the  forming 


3O  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

of  a  military  and  naval  depot,  strong  enough  to 

guarantee  the  security  of  the  proposed  port,  and 

in  which  the  king's  ships  might  at  need 

A  Military  and 

Naval  Arsenal  refit,  or  take  refuge,  or  sally  out  upon 
an  enemy,  was  an  essential  feature  of 
this  elaborate  plan,  every  detail  of  which  was 
set  forth  with  systematic  exactness.  For  seven 
years  the  project  was  pressed  upon  the  French 
court.  War,  however,  then  engaging  the  whole 
attention  of  the  ministry,  the  execution  of  this 
far-seeing  project,  which  had  in  view  the  demands 
of  peace  no  less  than  of  war,  was  unavoidably  put 
off  until  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  in  1713,  by  giving 
a  wholly  new  face  to  affairs  in  the  New  World, 
compelled  France  to  take  energetic  measures  for 
the  security  of  her  colonial  possessions. 

By  this  treaty  of  Utrecht  France  surrendered 
to  England  all  Nova  Scotia,  all  her  conquests  in 
Hudson's  Bay,  with  Placentia,  her  most  important 
Peace  of  establishment  in  Newfoundland.  At  the 
utrecht.  same  time  the  treaty  left  Cape  Breton 
to  France,  an  act  of  incomparable  folly  on  the 
part  of  the  English  plenipotentiaries  who,  with  the 
map  lying  open  before  them,  thus  handed  over  to 


POLITICAL    AND    MILITARY    PROBLEMS  31 

Louis  the  key  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  of  Canada. 
No  one  now  doubts  that  the  French  king  saw  in 
this  masterpiece  of  stupidity  a  way  to  retrieve  all 
he  had  lost  at  a  single  stroke.  The  English  com- 
missioners, it  is  to  be  .presumed,  saw  nothing. 

Having  the  right  to  fortify,  under  the  treaty,  it 
only  remained  for  the  French  court  to  determine 
which  of  the  island  ports  would  be  best  adapted  to 
the  purpose,  St.  Anne,  on  the  north,  or  English 
Harbor  on  the  south-east  coast.  St.  Anne  was  a 
safe  and  excellent  haven,  easily  made  impregnable, 
with  all  the  materials  requisite  for  building  and 
fortifying  to  be  found  near  the  spot.  Behind  it 
lay  the  fertile  cotes  of  the  beautiful  Bras  d'Or, 
with  open  water  stretching  nearly  to  the  Straits 
of  Canso.  On  the  other  hand,  besides  being 
surrounded  by  a  sterile  country,  materials  of  every 
kind,  except  timber,  must  be  transported  to 
English  Harbor  at  a  great  increase  of  labor  and 
cost.  More  could  be  done  at  St.  Anne  with  two 
thousand  francs,  it  was  said,  than  with  two  hundred 
thousand  at  the  rival  port.  But  the  difficulty  of 
taking  ships  of  large  tonnage  into  St.  Anne 
through  an  entrance  so  narrow  that  only  one  could 


32  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

pass  in  or  out  at  the  same  time,  finally  gave  the 

preference  to  English  Harbor,  which  had  a  ship 

channel    of    something   less    than   two 

English 

Harbor          hundred    fathoms    in   breadth,   a  good 

chosen.  ,  r 

anchorage,  and  plenty  of  beach  room 
for  erecting  stages  and  drying  fish.  It  was,  more- 
over, sooner  clear  of  ice  in  spring. 

The  first  thing  done  at  Cape  Breton  was  to 
change  the  old,  time-honored  name  of  the  island 
—  the  very  first,  it  is  believed,  which  signalled  the 

presence  of  Europeans  in  these  waters 

Name 

changed  to      — to  the  unmeaning  one  of  Isle  Royale. 

L  ou  i  s  b  u  r  g . 

English  Harbor  also  took  the  name  of 
Louisburg,  in  honor  of  the  reigning  monarch. 
Royalty  having  thus  received  its  dues,  the  work 
of  construction  now  began  in  earnest. 


THE    DECLARATION    OF    WAR  33 


IV 


RESUME    OF     EVENTS     TO     THE    DECLARATION. 
OF    WAR 

WE  will  now  rapidly  sketch  the  course  of  events 
which  led  to  war  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

Having  been  obliged  to  surrender  Nova  Scotia 
and  Newfoundland,  the  French  court  determined 
to  make  use  of  their  colonists  in  those  places  for 
building  up  Louisburg. 

In  the  first  place,  M.  de  Costebello,  who  had  just 
lost  his  government  of  the  French  colony  of 
Placentia,  in  Newfoundland,  under  the  terms  of 
the  treaty,  was  ordered  to  take  charge  of  the 
proposed  new  colony  on  Cape  Breton,  and  in 
accord  also  with  the  provisions  of  that  treaty,  the 
colonists  pro-  French  inhabitants  of  Newfoundland 
videdfor.  were  presently  removed  from  that 
island  to  Cape  Breton.  But  the  Acadians  of 
Nova  Scotia  who  had  been  invited,  and  were  fully 


34  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

counted  upon  to  join  the  other  colonists,  now 
showed  no  sort  of  disposition  to  do  so.  In  their 
case  the  French  authorities  had  reckoned  without 
their  host.  These  always  shrewd  Acadians  were 
unwilling  to  abandon  the  fertile  and  well-tilled 
Acadian  valleys,  which  years  of  toil  had  converted 
into  a  garden,  to  begin  a  new  struggle  with  the 
Acadians  wm  wilderness  in  order  to  carry  out  certain 
not  emigrate,  political  schemes  of  the  French  court. 
Though  patriots,  they  were  not  simpletons.  So 
they  sensibly  refused  to  stir,  although  their 
country  had  been  turned  over  to  the  English.  In 
this  way  the  French  authorities  were  unexpectedly 
checked  in  their  first  efforts  to  secure  colonists  of 
a  superior  class  for  their  new  establishment  in 
Cape  Breton. 

»  How  strange  are  the  freaks  of  destiny  !  Could 
these  simple  Acadian  peasants  have  foreseen 
what  was  in  store  for  them  at  no  distant  day,  at 
the  hands  of  their  new  masters,  who  can  doubt 
that,  like  the  Israelites  of  old,  driving  their  flocks 
before  them,  they  too  would  have  departed  for  the 
Promised  Land  with  all  possible  speed  ? 

Finding  them  thus  obstinate,  it  was  determined 


THE    DECLARATION    OF    WAR  35 

to  make  them  as  useful  as  possible  where  they 

were,  and  as  a  reconquest  of  Acadia  was  one  of 

those  contingencies  which  Louisburg  was  meant  to 

turn  into  realities,  whenever  the  proper 

A  Thorn  in  the 

side  of  the      moment    should    arrive,    nothing    was 

English.  ,  .  1111 

neglected  that  might  tend  to  the  hold- 
ing of  these  Acadians  firmly  to  their  ancient  alle- 
giance ;  to  keeping  alive  their  old  antipathies  ;  to 
arousing  their  fears  for  their  religion,  or  to  strongly 
impressing  them  with  the  belief  that  their  legiti- 
mate sovereign  would  soon  drive  these  English 
invaders  from  the  land,  never  to  return.  For  the 
moment  the  king's  lieutenants  were  obliged  to 
content  themselves  with  planting  this  thorn  in 
the  side  of  the  English. 

Acting  upon  the  advice  of  the  crafty  Saint 
Ovide,  De  Costebello's  successor,  the  Acadians 
refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  proffered 
them  by  the  British  governor  of  Nova  Scotia  — 
though  they  had  refused  to  emigrate  they  said 
they  would  not  become  British  subjects.  When 
threatened  they  sullenly  hinted  at  an  uprising  of 
the  Micmacs,  who  were  as  firmly  attached  to  the 
French  interest  as  the  Acadians  themselves. 


j6  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

The  governor,  therefore,  prudently  forbore  to 
press  matters  to  a  crisis,  all  the  more  readily  be- 
why  called  cause  ne  was  powerless  to  enforce  obe- 
Neutrais.  dience ;  and  thus  it  came  to  pass  that 
the  French  inhabitants  of  Nova  Scotia,  under 
English  dominion,  first  took  the  name  of  neu- 
trals. 

Perceiving  at  last  how  they  were  being  ground 
between  friend  and  foe,  the  Acadians  began 
hoarding  specie,  and  to  leave  off  improving  their 
houses  and  lands.  A  little  later  they  are  found 
applying  to  the  Governor-General  of  Canada  for 
grants  of  land  in  the  old  colony,  to  which  they 
might  remove,  and  where  they  could  dwell  in 
peace,  for  they  somehow  divined  that  they  must 
be  the  losers  whenever  fresh  hostilities  should 
break  out  between  the  French  and  English,  if,  as 
it  seemed  inevitable,  the  war  should  involve  them 
in  its  calamities.  But  that  astute  official  returned 
only  evasive  answers  to  their  petition.  His  royal 

victims  to  master  had  other  views,  to  the  success- 
French  Policy.  ful  igsue  of  wh}ch  hig  lieutenants  were 

fully  pledged,  and  so  it  is  primarily  to  French 
policy,  after  all,  that  the  wretched  Acadians  owed 


THE    DECLARATION    OF    WAR  37 

their  exile  from  the  land  of  their  fathers.  What 
followed  was  merely  the  logical  result. 

But  in  consequence  of  their  first  refusal  to 
remove  to  Louisburg  only  a  handful  of  the 
Micmacs  responded  to  Costebello's  call,  by  pitch- 
ing their  wigwams  on  the  skirt  of  the  embryo  city. 

Laborers  were  wanted  next.  For  the  procuring 
of  these  the  Governor-General  of  Canada,  the 
Marquis  de  Vaudreuil,  hit  upon  the  novel  idea  of 

Laborers  from  tranSP°rting     eVeiT     yCar     fr°m     France 

the  Galleys,  those  prisoners  who  were  sentenced  to 
the  galleys  for  smuggling.  They  were  to  come 
out  to  Canada  subject  to  the  severe  penalty  of 
never  again  being  permitted  to  return  to  their 
native  land,  "for  which,"  said  the  cunning 
marquis,  "  I  undertake  to  answer." 

"  Lord  Bacon,  in  one  of  his  essays,  makes  the 
following  comments  upon  this  iniquitous  method 
of  raising  up  colonies :  "  It  is  a  shameful  and 
unblessed  thing,"  he  says,  "to  take  the  scum  of 
people,  and  wicked  condemned  men  to  be  the 
people  with  whom  you  plant ;  and  not  only  so,  but 
it  spoileth  the  plantations  ;  for  they  will  ever  live 
like  rogues,  and  not  fall  to  work,  but  be  lazy,  and 


38  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

do  mischief  and  spend  victuals  :  and  be  quickly 
weary,  and  then  certify  over  to  their  country -to 
the  discredit  of  the  plantation." 

Meanwhile,  the  sceptre  that  had  borne  such 
potent  sway  in  Europe  dropped  from  the  lifeless 
hand  of  Louis  the  Great,  to  be  taken  up  by  the 
"crowned  automaton,"  Louis  XV. 

Pursuant  to  the  policy  thus  outlined,  which  had 
no  less  in  view  than  the  rehabilitation  of  Canada, 
the  recovery  of  Nova  Scotia,  the  mastery  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  and  the  eventual  restoration  of 
French  prestige  in  America,  France  had  in  thirty 
years  created  at  Louisburg  a  fortress  so  strong 
that  it  was  commonly  spoken  of  as  the  Dunkirk 
of  America.  To  do  this  she  had  lavished  millions.1 
Beyond  question  it  was  the  most  formidable  place 
of  arms  on  the  American  continent,  far  exceeding 
strength  of  m  tn's  resPect  the  elaborate  but  anti- 
Louisburg.  quated  strongholds  of  Havana,  Panama, 
and  Carthagena,  all  of  which  had  been  built  and 
fortified  upon  the  old  methods  of  attack  and 
defence  as  laid  down  by  the  engineers  of  a  pre- 
vious century :  while  Louisburg  had  the  important 
advantage  of  being  planned  with  all  the  skill  that 


THE    DECLARATION    OF    WAR  39 

the  best  military  science  of  the  day  and  the  most 
prodigal  expenditure  could  command.  When  their 
work  was  done,  the  French  engineers  boastingly 
said  that  Louisburg  could  be  defended  by  a 
garrison  of  women. 

The  fortress,  and  its  supporting  batteries, 
mounted  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  pieces  of 
artillery  on  its  walls,  some  of  which  were  of  the 
Armament  of  neaviest  metal  then  in  use.  It  was 
Louisburg.  deemed,  and  indeed  proved  itself,  during 
the  progress  of  two  sieges,  absolutely  impregnable 
to  an  attack  by  a  naval  force  alone.  From  this 
stronghold  Louis  had  only  to  stretch  out  a  hand  to 
seize  upon  Nova  Scotia,  or  drive  the  New  England 
fishermen  from  the  adjacent  seas. 

In  New  England  all  these  proceedings  were 
watched  with  the  keenest  interest,  for  there,  at 
least,  if  nowhere  else,  their  true  intent  was  so 
quickly  foreseen,  their  consequences  so  fully 
realized,  that  the  people  were  more  and  more 
confounded  by  the  imbecility  which  had  virtually 
put  their  whole  fishery  under  French  control. 

As  the  situation  in  Europe  was  reflected  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  it  is  instructive  to  look  there 


4O  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

for  the  storm  which,  to  the  terror  and  dismay  of 
Americans,  was  now  darkly  overspreading  the 
continent. 

The  crowned   gamblers  of   Europe  had  begun 

their  costly   game   of    the   Austrian    succession. 

Upon  marching  to  invade  Silesia,  Frederick  II., 

the  neediest  and  most  reckless  gamester  of  them 

all,  had  said  to  the  French  ambassador, 

War  of  the 

Austrian  sue-  "I  am  going,   I  believe,  to  play  your 

cession. 

little  game :  and  if  I  should  throw 
doublets  we  will  share  the  stakes."  Fortune 
favored  this  great  king  of  a  little  kingdom.  He 
won  his  first  throw,  seeing  which,  for  she  was  at 
first  only  a  looker-on,  France  immediately  sent  two 
armies  into  Bavaria  to  the  Elector's  aid.  This 
move  was  not  unexpected  in  London.  Ever  since 
England  had  forced  hostilities  with  Spain,  in  1740, 
it  was  a  foregone  conclusion  that  the  two  branches 
of  the  House  of  Bourbon  would  make  common 
cause,  whenever  a  favorable  opportunity  should 
present  itself.  England  now  retaliated  by  voting 
a  subsidy  to  Maria  Theresa,  and  by  taking  into 
pay  some  sixteen  thousand  of  King  George's 
petted  Hanoverians,  who  were  destined  to  fight 


THE    DECLARATION    OF    WAR  4! 

the  French  auxiliary  contingent.  England  and 
France  were  thus  casting  stones  at  each  other  over 
the  wall,  or,  as  Horace  Walpole  cleverly  put  it, 
England  had  the  name  of  war  with  Spain  without 
the  game,  and  war  with  France  without  the  name. 
It  was  inevitable  that  the  war  should  now  settle 
down  into  a  bitter  struggle  between  the  two  great 
rivals,  France  and  England.  On  the  2Oth  of 
March,  1744,  the  court  of  Versailles  formally 
declared  war.  England  followed  on  the  3ist. 
Flanders  became  the  battle-field  between  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  thousand  combatants,  led, 
respectively,  by  the  old  Count  Maurice 

English 

defeated  in  de  Saxe  and  the  young  Duke  of  Cum- 
berland. In  May,  1745,  the  French 
marshal  suddenly  invested  Tournay,2  the  greatest 
of  all  the  Flemish  fortresses.  The  Duke  of 
Cumberland  marched  to  its  relief,  gave  battle,  and 
was  thoroughly  beaten  at  Fontenoy.  This  disaster 
closed  the  campaign  in  the  Old  World.  It  left  the 
English  nation  terribly  humiliated  in  the  eyes  of 
Europe,  while  France,  by  this  brilliant  feat  of 
arms,  fully  reasserted  her  leadership  in  Continental 
affairs. 


42  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

But  what  had  been  a  sort  of  Satanic  pastime  in 
the  Old  World  became  a  struggle  for  life  in  the 
New.  The  people  of  New  England,  being  natur- 
ally more  keenly  alive  to  the  dangers  menacing 
their  trade,  than  influenced  by  a  romantic  sympa- 
thy with  the  absurd  quarrels  about  the  Austrian 
succession,  anxiously  watched  for  the  first  signal 
of  the  coming  conflict.  They  knew  the  enemy's 
strength,  and  they  were  as  fully  aware  of  their 
own  weaknesses.  Still  there  was  no  flinching. 
The  home  government,  being  fully  occupied  with 
the  affairs  of  the  Continent,  and  with  the  political 
cabals  of  London,  limited  its  efforts  to  arming  a 

situation  in  ^ew  ^OY^&  ln  the  colonies,  and  to  keeping 
New  England.  a  f  ew  cruisers  jn  the  West  Indian 

waters  ;  but  neither  soldiers,  arsenals,  nor  maga- 
zines were  provided  for  the  defence  of  these 
provinces,  upon  whom  the  enemy's  first  and  hardest 
blows  might  naturally  be  expected  to  fall,  nor  were 
such  other  measures  taken  to  meet  such  an 
extraordinary  emergency  as  its  gravity  would  seem 
in  reason  to  demand. 

Luckily  for  them,  the  colonists  had  been  taught 
in  the  hard  school  of  experience  that  Providence 


THE    DECLARATION    OF    WAR  43 

helps  those  who  help  themselves.  To  their  own 
resources  they  therefore  turned  with  a  vigor  and 
address  manifesting  a  deep  sense  of  the  magnitude 
of  the  crisis  now  confronting  them. 

The  proclamation  of  war  was  not  published  in 
Boston  until  the  2d  of  June,  1744.  Having  earlier 
intelligence,  the  French  at  Louisburg  had  already 
French  seize  begun  hostilities  by  making  a  descent 
canso.  upon  Canso,3  a  weak  English  post  situ- 

ated at  the  outlet  of  the  strait  of  that  name,  and 
so .  commanding  it,  and  within  easy  striking  dis- 
tance of  Louisburg.  News  of  this  was  brought  to 
Boston  so  seasonably  that  Governor  Shirley  had 
time  to  throw  a  re-enforcement  of  two  hundred 
men  into  Annapolis,  by  which  that  post  was  saved ; 
for  the  French,  after  their  exploit  at  Canso,  soon 
made  an  attempt  upon  Annapolis,  where  they 
were  held  in  check  until  a  second  re-enforcement 
obliged  them  to  retire. 

Governor  Shirley  lost  no  time  in  notifying  the 
captain  Ryai  ministry  of  what  had  happened,  and  he 
don!  Novem-  particularly  urged  upon  their  attention 
her,  1744-  the  defenceless  state  of  Nova  Scotia, 
where  Annapolis  alone  held  a  semi-hostile  popula- 


44  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

tion  in  check.  To  the  end  that  the  situation 
might  be  more  fully  understood,  he  sent  an 
officer,  who  had  been  taken  at  Canso,  with  the 
despatch. 

At  this  time  the  incompetent  Duke  of  New- 
castle held  the  post  of  prime  minister.  When  he 
had  read  the  despatch  he  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  yes  — 
yes  —  to  be  sure.  Annapolis  must  be  defended  — 
troops  must  be  sent  to  Annapolis.  Pray  where  is 
Annapolis  ?  Cape  Breton  an  island  !  wonderful ! 
Show  it  me  on  the  map.  So  it  is,  sure  enough. 
My  dear  sir"  (to  the  bearer  of  the  despatch),  "you 
always  bring  us  good  news.  I  must  go  tell  the 
King  that  Cape  Breton  is  an  island." 

It  will  be  seen,  later,  that  Shirley's  timely  ap- 
plication to  the  ministry,  on  behalf  of  Nova  Scotia, 
involved  the  fate  of  Louisburg  itself. 

January,  1744. 

Orders  were  promptly  sent  out  to  Com- 
modore Warren,  who  was  in  command  of  a  cruising 
squadron  in  the  West  Indies,  to  proceed  as  early 
as  possible  to  Noya  Scotia,  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
tecting our  settlements  there,  or  of  distressing  the 
enemy,  as  circumstances  might  require. 

Shirley   himself   had   also   written   to   Warren, 


THE    DECLARATION    OF    WAR  45 

requesting  him  to  do  this  very  thing,  at  the  same 
time  the  ministry  were  notified,  though  it  was  yet 
too  early  to  know  the  result  of  either  application. 
All  eyes  were  now  opened  to  Louisburg's  danger- 
ous power.  But,  come  what  might,  Shirley  was 
evidently  a  man  who  would  leave  nothing  undone. 

1  LOUISBURG   had  cost   the  enormous   sum  of   30,000,000  livres   or 
.£1,200,000  sterling. 

2  PEPPERELL  was  besieging  Louisburg  at  the  same  time  the  French 
were  Tournay. 

3  CANSO  was  taken  by  Duvivier,  May  13,  1744.     The  captors  burnt 
everything,  carrying  the  captives  to  Louisburg,  where  they  remained  till 
autumn,  when  they  were  sent  to   Boston.     These  prisoners  were  able  to 
give  very  important  information  concerning  the  fortress,  its  garrison,  and 
its  means  of  defence. 


46  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 


V 

"LOUISBURG  MUST  BE  TAKEN" 

HOWEVER  Shirley's  efforts  to  avert  a  present 
danger  might  succeed,  nobody  saw  more  clearly 
than  he  did  that  his  measures  only  went  half  way 
toward  their  mark.  With  Louisburg  intact,  the 
enemy  might  sweep  the  coasts  of  New  England 
with  their  expeditions,  and  her  commerce  from 
the  seas.  The  return  of  spring,  when  warlike 
operations  might  be  again  resumed,  was  therefore 
looked  forward  to  at  Boston  with  the  utmost  un- 
easiness. Merchants  would  not  risk  their  ships 
on  the  ocean.  Fishermen  dared  not  think  of  put- 
ting to  sea  for  their  customary  voyages  to  the 
Grand  Banks  or  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  Here 
was  a  state  of  things  which  a  people  who  lived  by 
their  commerce  and  fisheries  could  only  contem- 
plate with  the  most  serious  forebodings.  It  was 
fully  equivalent  to. a  blockade  of  their  ports,  a 


"  LOUISBURG    MUST    BE    TAKEN  "  47 

stoppage  of  their  industries,  with  consequent  stag- 
nation paralyzing  all  their  multitudinous  occupa- 
tions. 

Naturally  the  subject  became  a  foremost  matter 
of  discussion  in  the  official  and  social  circles,  in 
the  pulpits,  and  in  the  tavern  clubs  of  the  New 
public  opinion  England  capital.  It  was  the  serious 
aroused.  topic  in  the  counting-house  and  the 
table-talk  at  home.  It  drifted  out  among  the 
laboring  classes,  who  had  so  much  at  stake,  with 
varied  embellishment.  It  went  out  into  the  coun- 
try, gathering  to  itself  fresh  rumors  like  a  rolling 
snowball.  In  all  these  coteries,  whether  of  the 
councillors  over  their  wine,  of  the  merchants 
around  their  punch-bowls,  of  the  smutty  smith  at 
his  forge,  or  the  common  dock-laborer,  the  same 
conclusion  was  reached,  and  constantly  reiterated 
—  Louisburg  must  be  taken  !  —  Yes  ;  Louisburg 
must  be  taken  !  Upon  this  decision  the  people 
stood  as  one  man. 

It  did  not,  however,  enter  into  the  minds  of 
even  the  most  sanguine  advocates  of  this  idea  that 
they  themselves  would  be  shortly  called  upon  to 
make  it  effective  in  the  one  way  possible.  Such 


48  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

a  proposal  would  have  been  laughed  at,  at  first. 
The  general  voice  was  that  the  land  and  naval 
forces  of  the  kingdom  ought  to  be  employed  for 
the  reduction  of  Louisburg,  because  no  others 
were  available ;  but,  meantime,  a  public  opinion 
had  been  formed  which  only  wanted  a  proper 
direction  to  turn  it  into  a  force  capable  of  doing 
what  it  had  decided  upon.  There  was  but  one 
man  in  the  province  who  was  equal  to  this  task. 

That  some  other  man  may  have  had  the  same 
idea  is  but  natural,  when  the  same  subject  was 
uppermost  in  the  minds  of  all ;  but  where  others 
tossed  it  to  and  fro,  like  a  tennis-ball,  only  this 
one  man  grasped  it  with  the  force  of  a  master 
mind.1  He  was  William  Shirley,  governor  of 
Massachusetts. 

Governor  Shirley  soon  showed  himself  the  man 
for  the  crisis.  He  was  a  lawyer  of  good  abilities, 
with  a  political  reputation  to  make.  He  had  a 
wiiiiam  clear  head,  strong  will,  plausible  man- 
shiriey.  neFj  an(j  immOvable  persistency  in  the 
pursuit  of  a  favorite  project.  If  not  a  military 
man  by  education,  he  had,  at  any  rate,  the  military 
instinct.  He  was,  moreover,  a  shrewd  manager, 


"  LOUISBURG    MUST    BE    TAKEN  49 

not  easily  disheartened  or  turned  aside  from  his 
purpose  by  a  first  rebuff,  yet  knowing  how  to  yield 
when,  by  doing  so,  he  could  see  his  way  to  carry 
his  point  in  the  end. 

The  French,  we  remember,  had  made  some 
prisoners  at  Canso,  who  were  first  taken  to 
Louisburg,  and  then  sent  to  Boston  on  parole. 
These  captives  knew  the  place,  but  our  smuggling 
merchantmen  knew  it  much  better.  They  were 
able  to  give  a  pretty  exact  account  of  the  condition 
of  things  at  the  fortress.  We  are  now  looking 
backward  a  little.  But  what  seems  to  have  made 
the  strongest  impression  was  the  news  that  the 
garrison  itself  had  been  in  open  mutiny  during  the 
winter,  most  of  the  soldiers  being  Swiss,  whose 
loyalty,  it  was  supposed,  had  been  more  or  less 
shaken.2 

Whether -William  Vaughan,3  a  New  Hampshire 
merchant  resident  in  Maine,  first  broached  the 
project  of  taking  Louisburg  to  Shirley,  cannot  now 
wiiiiam  b£  determined,  but,  let  the  honor  belong 
Vaughan.  primarily  where  it  may,  Vaughan's 
scheme,  as  outlined  by  him,  was  too  absurd  for 
serious  consideration,  however  strongly  he  may 


5O  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

have  believed  in  it  himself.  He  seems  to  have 
belonged  to  the  class  of  enthusiasts  at  whose 
breath  obstacles  vanish  away ;  yet  we  are  bound 
to  say  of  him  that  his  own  easy  confidence,  with 
his  habit  of  throwing  himself  heart  and  soul  into 
whatever  he  undertook,  gained  over  a  good  many 
others  to  his  way  of  thinking.  Shirley  therefore 
encouraged  Vaughan,  who,  after  rendering  really 
valuable  services,  became  so  thoroughly  imbued 
with  the  notion  that  he  was  not  only  the  originator 
of  the  expedition,  but  the  chief  actor  in  it,  that 
the  value  of  those  services  is  somewhat  obscured. 
Governor  Shirley's  project  now  was  to  take 
Louisburg,  with  such  means  as  he  himself  could 
get  together.  He,  too,  was  more  or  less  carried 
away  by  the  spirit  which  animated  him,  as  men 
must  be  to  make  others  believe  in  them,  but  he 
never  lost  his  head.  To  a  cool  judgment,  some  of 
Shirley's  plans  for  assaulting  Louisburg  seem 
almost,  if  not  quite,  as  irrational  as  Vaughan's, 
yet  Shirley  was  not  the  man  to  commit  any  overt 
act  of  folly,  or  shut  his  ears  to  prudent  counsels. 
Being  so  well  acquainted  with  the  temper  and 
spirit  of  the  New  England  people,  he  knew  that, 


"  LOUISBURG    MUST    BE    TAKEN  5  I 

before  they  would  fight,  they  must  be  convinced. 
To  this  end,  he  strengthened  himself  with  the 
proper  arguments,  wisely  keeping  his  own  counsel 
until  everything  should  be  ripe  for  action.  He 
knew  that  the  garrison  of  Louisburg  was  mutinous, 
that  its  isolated  position  invited  an  attack,  and 
that  the  extensive  works  were  much  out  of  repair. 
Moreover,  he  had  calculated,  almost  to  a 

Counting  the 

chances  of      day,  the  time  when  the  annual  supplies 

Success.  .    .  . 

ot  men  and  munitions  would  arrive  trom 
France.  He  knew  that  Quebec  was  too  distant 
for  effectively  aiding  Louisburg.  An  attack  under 
such  conditions  seemed  to  hold  out  a  tempting 
prospect  of  success  ;  yet  realizing,  as  Shirley  did, 
that  under  any  circumstances,  no  matter  how 
favorable  or  alluring  they  might  seem,  the  enter- 
prise would  be  looked  upon  as  one  of  unparalleled 
audacity,  if  not  as  utterly  hopeless  or  visionary, 
he  determined  to  stake  his  own  political  fortunes 
upon  the  issue  and  abide  the  result. 

The  garrison  of  Louisburg  had  been,  in  fact,  in 
open  revolt,  the  outbreak  proving  so  serious  that 
the  commanding  officer  had  begged  his  govern- 
ment to  replace  the  disaffected  troops  with  others, 


52  THE   TAKING   OF    LOUISBURG 

who  could  be  depended  upon.     Shirley,  therefore, 

reckoned  on  a  half-hearted  resistance  or  none  at 

all.     In  a  word,  it  was  his  plan  to  sur- 

Shirley's  Plan. 

prise  and  take  the  place  before  it  could 
be  re-enforced. 

After  obtaining  a  pledge  of  secrecy  from  the 
members,  Shirley  proceeded  to  lay  his  project 
before  the  provincial  legislature  of  Massachusetts, 
which  was  then  in  session.  The  governor's  state- 
ment, which  was  certainly  cool  and  dispassionate, 
ran  somewhat  to  this  effect :  "  Gentlemen  of  the 
General  Court,  either  we  must  take  Louisburg  or 
see  our  trade  annihilated.  If  you  are  of  my  mind 
we  will  take  it.  I  have  reason  to  know  that  the 
garrison  is  insubordinate.  There  is  good  ground 
for  believing  that  the  commandant  is  afraid  of  his 
own  men,  that  the  works  are  out  of  repair  and 
the  stores  running  low.  I  need  not  dwell  further 
on  what  is  so  well  known  to  you  all.  Now,  with 
four  thousand  such  soldiers  as  this  and  the 
neighboring  provinces  can  furnish,  aided  by  a 
naval  force  similarly  equipped,  the  place  must 
surely  fall  into  our  hands.  I  have,  moreover, 
strong  hopes  of  aid  from  His  Majesty's  ships,  now 


"  LOUISBURG    MUST    BE    TAKEN  "  53 

in  our  waters.  But  the  great  thing  is  to  throw 
our  forces  upon  Louisburg  before  the  enemy  can 
hear  of  our  design.  Secrecy  and  celerity  are 
therefore  of  the  last  importance.  Consider  well, 
gentlemen,  that  such  an  opportunity  is  not  likely 
to  occur  again.  What  say  you  ?  is  Louisburg  to 
be  ours  or  not  ? " 

The  conservative  provincial  assembly  deliber- 
ated upon  the  proposal  with  closed  doors,  and  with 
Shirley's pian  Sreat  unanimity  rejected  it.  The  sum 
rejected.  o£  fta  decision  was  this  :  "  If  we  risk 
nothing,  we  lose  nothing.  Should  the  enemy 
strike  us,  we  can  strike  back  again.  We  can  ruin 
his  commerce  as  well  as  he  can  destroy  ours.  Our 
policy  is  to  stand  on  the  defensive.  Very  possi- 
bly the  men  might  be  raised,  but  where  are  the 
arsenals  to  equip  them  ;  where  is  the  money  to 
come  from  to  pay  them  ;  where  are  the  engineers, 
the  artillerists,  the  siege  artillery,  naval  stores, 
and  all  the  warlike  material  necessary  to  such  a 
siege  ?  Why,  we  haven't  a  single  soldier ;  we 
haven't  a  penny.  Surely  your  excellency  must  be 
jesting  with  us.  It  is  a  magnificent  project,  but 
visionary,  your  excellency,  quite  visionary." 


54  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

To  make  use  of  parliamentary  terms,  the  gov- 
ernor had  leave  to  withdraw,  but  those  who 
dreamed  that  he  would  abandon  his  darling  scheme 
at  the  first  rebuff  it  met  with,  did  not  know 
William  Shirley. 

The  affair  was  now  no  longer  a  secret.  Indeed, 
it  had  already  leaked  out  through  a  certain  pious 
deacon,  who  most  inconsiderately  prayed  for  its 
success  in  the  family  circle.  The  project  had  been 
scotched,  not  killed.  Men  discussed  it  every- 
where, now  that  it  was  an  open  secret,  and  the 
more  it  was  talked  of,  the  more  firmly  it  took  hold 
on  the  popular  mind.  The  very  audacity  of  the 
thing  pleased  the  young  and  adventurous  spirits, 
of  whom  there  were  plenty  in  the  New  England 
of  that  day.  Vaughan  now  set  himself  to  work 
among  the  merchants,  who  saw  money  to  be  made 
in  furnishing  supplies  of  every  kind  for  the  expe- 
dition ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  if  nothing  was  to 
be  done,  their  ships  and  merchandise  must  lie  idle 
for  so  long  as  the  war  might  last.  Little  by  little 
the  indefatigable  Shirley  won  men  over  to  his  views. 
People  grew  restive  under  a  policy  of  inaction. 
Public  sentiment  seldom  fails  of  having  a.  whole- 


"  LOUISBURG    MUST    BE    TAKEN"  55 

some   effect   upon   legislatures,  be  they   ever   so 

settled  in  their  own  opinions.     It  was  so  in  this 

case.     Presently  a   petition,  signed   by   many   of 

the  most  influential  merchants   in   the 

The  Subject 

again  brought  province,  was  laid  on  the  speaker's  desk, 

up. 

so  again  bringing  the  subject  up  for 
legislative  action. 

This  time  the  governor  carried  his  point  after 
a  whole  day's  animated  debate.  The  measure, 
however,  narrowly  missed  a  second,  and,  perhaps, 
a  final  defeat,  it  having  a  majority  of  one  vote 
only ;  and  this  result  was  owing  to  an  accident 
which,  as  it  was  a  good  deal  talked  about  at  the 
time  it  happened,  may  as  well  be  mentioned  here. 
It  so  chanced  that  one  of  the  opposition,  while 
hurrying  to  the  House  in  order  to  record  his  vote 
against  the  measure,  had  a  fall  in  the  street,  and 
The  Project  was  taken  home  with  a  broken  leg. 
adopted.  There  being  a  tie  vote  in  consequence, 
Mr.  Speaker  Hutchinson  gave  the  casting  vote  in 
favor  of  the  measure,  and  so  carried  it. 

If  there  had  been  hesitation  before,  there  was 
none  now.  In  order  to  prevent  the  news  from 
getting  abroad,  all  the  seaports  of  Massachusetts 


$6  THE    TAKING   OF    LOUISBURG 

were  instantly  shut  by  an  embargo.4  The  neigh- 
boring provinces  were  entreated  to  do  the  same 
thing.  The  supplies  asked  for  were  voted  without 
debate.  Even  the  emission  of  paper  money,  that 
bugbear  of  colonial  financiers,  was  cheerfully  con- 
sented to  in  the  face  of  a  royal  order  forbidding  it. 
Those  who  before  had  been  strongest  in  opposi- 
tion now  gave  loyal  support  to  the  undertaking. 

Free  to  act  at  last,  Shirley  now  showed  his 
splendid  talent  for  organizing  in  full  vigor.  The 
work  of  raising  troops,  of  chartering  transports,  of 
collecting  arms,  munitions,  and  stores  of  every 
kind,  went  on  with  an  extraordinary  impulse. 
Common  smiths  were  turned  into  armorers ;  wheel- 
wrights into  artificers ;  women  spent  their  evenings 
making  bandages  and  scraping  lint.  Shirley's 
board  of  war,  created  for  the  exigency,  took  sup- 
plies wherever  found,  paying  for  them  with  the 
paper  money  the  Legislature  had  just  authorized 
for  the  purpose.  The  patience  with  which  these 
extraordinary  war  measures  were  submitted  to 
best  shows  the  temper  of  the  people.  The  neigh- 
boring governments  were  entreated  to  join  in  the 
expedition  and  share  in  the  glory.  Rhode  Island, 


"  LOUISBURG    MUST    BE    TAKEN  57 

Connecticut,  and  New  Jersey  each  promised  con- 
tingents. The  other  provinces  declined  having 
anything  to  do  with  it,  though  New  York  made 
a  most  seasonable  loan  of  ten  heavy  cannon,  upon 
Shirley's  urgent  entreaty,  without  which  the  siege 
must  have  lagged  painfully.  The  governor  had, 
indeed,  suggested,  when  the  deficiency  of  artillery 
was  spoken  of,  that  the  cannon  of  the  Royal  Bat- 
tery of  Louisburg  would  help  to  make  good  that 
deficiency ;  but,  as  it  was  facetiously  said  at  the 
time,  this  was  too  manifest  a  disposal  of  the  skin 
before  the  bear  was  caught,  though  it  is  quite 
likely  that  the  notion  of  supplying  themselves 
from  the  enemy  may  have  tickled  the  fancy  of  the 
young  recruits. 

When  the  application  reached  Philadelphia, 
Franklin  expressed  shrewd  doubts  of  the  feasi- 
bility of  the  undertaking.  The  provincial  assem- 
bly did,  however,  vote  some  supply  of  provisions, 
as  its  contribution  toward  a  campaign  which  no- 
body believed  would  be  successful.  New  Jersey 
also  contributed  provisions  and  clothing.  This 
was  not  quite  what  Shirley  had  hoped  for,  but 
could  not  in  the  least  abate  his  efforts. 


58  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

1  SUGGESTIONS  looking  to  a  conquest  of  Cape  Breton  were  made  by 
Lieutenant-Governor  Clarke  of  New  York,  some  time  in  the  year  1743 
("  Documentary  History  of  New  York,"  I.,  p.  469).     He  suggests  taking 
Cape  Breton  as  a  first  step  toward  the  reduction  of  all  Canada.     Then, 
Judge  Auchmuty  of  the  Vice-Admiralty  Court  of  Massachusetts  printed 
in  April,  1744,  an  ably  written  pamphlet  discussing  the   best   mode  of 
taking  Louisburg. 

2  THE  REVOLT  occurred  in  December,  over  a  reduction  of  pay.     The 
soldiers  deposed  their  officers,  elected  others  in  their  places,  seized  the 
barracks,  and  put  sentinels  over  the  magazines.    They  were  so  far  pacified, 
however,  as  to  have  returned  to  their  duty  before  the  English  expedition 
arrived.     Under  date  of  June  18,  one  day  after  the  surrender,  Governor- 
General  Beauharnois  advises  the  Count  de  Maurepas  of  this  revolt.     He 
urges  an  entire  change  of  the  garrison. 

3  VAUGHAN  was  a  mill-owner,  and  carried  on  fishing  also  at  Damaris- 
cotta,  Me.     He  knew  Louisburg  well.     Conceiving  himself  slighted  by 
those  in  authority  at  Louisburg,  he  went  from  thence  directly  to  England, 
in   order  to  prefer  his  claim  for  compensation  as  the  originator  of   the 
scheme.     He  died  of  smallpox  at  Bagshot,  November,  1747.     He  insisted 
that  fifteen  hundred  men,  assisted  by  some  vessels,  could  take  Louisburg 
by  scaling  the  walls.     "A  man  of  rash,  impulsive  nature."  —  BeTknap. 
"  A  whimsical,  wild  projector."  —  Douglass. 

*  NEWS  that  an  armament  was  preparing  at  Boston  was  carried  to 
Quebec,  by  the  Indians,  without,  however,  awakening  the  governor's 
suspicions  of  its  true  object. 


THE    ARMY    AND    ITS    GENERAL  59 


VI 

THE   ARMY    AND    ITS    GENERAL 

THE  next,  and  possibly  most  vital  step  of  all, 
since  the  fate  of  the  expedition  must  turn  upon  it, 
was  to  choose  a  commander.  For  this  important 
station  the  province  was  quite  as  deficient  in  men 
of  experience  as  it  was  in  'materials  of  war :  with 
the  difference  that  one  could  be  created  of  raw 
substances  while  the  other  could  not.  Here  the 
nicest  tact  and  judgment  were  requisite  to  avoid 
making  shipwreck  of  the  whole  enterprise.  Not 
having  a  military  man,  the  all-important  thing  was 
to  find  a  popular  one,  around  whom  the  provincial 
yeomanry  could  be  induced  to  rally.  But  since  he 
was  not  to  be  a  soldier,  he  must  be  a  man  held 
high  in  the  public  esteem  for  his  civic  virtues.  It 
was  necessary  to  have  a  clean  man,  above  all 
things :  one  placed  outside  of  the  political  circles 
of  Boston,  and  who,  by  sacrificing  something  him- 
self to  the  common  weal,  should  set  an  example  of 


60  THE   TAKING   OF    LOUISBURG 

pure  patriotism  to  his  fellow-citizens.  Again,  it 
was  no  less  important  to  select  some  one  whose 
general  capacity  could  not  be  called  in  question. 
Hence,  as  in  every  real  emergency,  the  people 
cast  about  for  their  very  best  man  from  a  politi- 
cal and  personal  standpoint,  who,  though  he  might 

have 

"  Never  set  a  squadron  in  the  field," 

could  be  thoroughly  depended  upon  to  act  with 
an  eye  single  to  the  good  of  the  cause  he  had 
espoused. 

In   this    exigency    Shirley's   clear   eye   fell   on 

William    Pepperell,    of    Kittery,  a.  gentleman    of 

sterling     though    not    shining    qualities,    whose 

wealth,  social    rank,    and    high    personal    worth 

promised  to  give  character  and  weight 

William  Pep- 
perell to  com-  to   the  post   Shirley  now  destined  him 

for.  He  was  now  forty-nine  years  old. 
Having  held  both  civil  and  military  offices  under 
the  province,  Pepperell  could  not  be  said  to  be 
worse  fitted  for  the  place  than  others  whose  claims 
were  brought  forward,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
was  conceded  that  hardly  another  man  in  the 
province  possessed  the  public  confidence  to  a 


THE    ARMY    AND    ITS    GENERAL  6l 

greater  degree  than  he  did.  Still,  he  was  no 
soldier,  and  the  simple  conferring  of  the  title  of 
general  could  not  make  him  one,  while  his 
practical  education  must  begin  in  the  presence  of 
the  enemy  —  a  school  where,  if  capable  men  learn 
quickly,  they  do  so,  as  a  rule,  only  after  experienc- 
ing repeated  and  severe  punishments.  That  raw 
soldiers  need  the  best  generals,  is  a  maxim  of 
common-sense,  but  Shirley,  in  whom  we  now  and 
then  discover  a  certain  disdain  for  such  judgments, 
seems  to  have  had  no  misgivings  whatever  as  to 
Pepperell's  entire  sufficiency  so  long  as  he,  Shirley, 
gave  the  orders,  and  kept  a  firm  hand  over  his 
lieutenant ;  nor  can  it  be  denied  that  if  the  expe- 
dition was  to  take  place  at  all  when  it  did,  the 
choice  was  the  very  best  that  could  have  been 
made,  all  things  considered. 

That  Shirley  may  have  been  influenced,  in  a 
measure,  by  personal  reasons  is  not  improbable,  and 
the  fact  that  Pepperell  was  neither  intriguing  nor 
ambitious,  no  doubt  had  due  weight  with  a  man 
like  Shirley,  who  was  both-  intriguing  and  ambi- 
tious, and  who,  though  he  ardently  wished  for 
success,  did  not  wish  for  a  rival. 


62  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

No  one  seems  to  have  felt  his  unfitness  more 
than  Pepperell  himself,  and  it  is  equally  to  his 
honor  that  he  finally  yielded  to  considerations 
dkectly  appealing  to  his  patriotism  and  sense  of 
duty.  "  You,"  said  Shirley  to  him,  "  are  the  only 
man  who  can  safely  carry  our  great  enterprise 
through ;  if  it  fail  the  blame  must  lie  at  your 
door."  Much  troubled  in  mind,  Pepperell  asked 
the  Rev.  George  Whitefield,  who  happened  to  be 
his  guest,  what  he  thought  of  it.  The  celebrated 
preacher  kindly,  but  decidedly,  advised  Pepperell 
against  taking  on  himself  so  great  a  responsi- 
bility, telling  him  that  he  would  either  make  him- 
self an  object  for  execration,  if  he  failed,  or  of 
envy  and  malignity,  if  he  should  succeed. 

Shirley's  pertinacity,  however,  prevailed  in  the 
end.  Pepperell's  own  personal  stake  in  the  suc- 
cessful issue  of  the  expedition  was  known  to  be  as 
great  as  any  man's  in  the  province,  hence,  his 
.,  .  ,  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  it  did 

Morale  of  the    ~ 

Army.  much    to    induce    others  of    like   good 

standing  and  estate  to  join  him  heart  and  hand, 
and  their  example,  again,  drew  into  the  ranks  a 
greater  proportion  of  the  well-to-do  farmers  and' 


THE    ARMY    AND    ITS    GENERAL  63 

mechanics  than  was  probably  ever  brought 
together  in  an  army  of  equal  numbers,  either 
before  or  since.  Hence,  at  Louisburg,  as  in  our 
own  time,  when  any  extraordinary  want  arose,  the 
general  had  only  to  call  on  the  rank  and  file  for 
the  means  to  meet  it. 

Several  gentlemen,  who  had  the  success  of  the 
undertaking  strongly  at  heart,  volunteered  to  go 
with  Pepperell  to  the  scene  of  action.  Among 
them  were  that  William  Vaughan,  previously 
mentioned,  and  one  James  Gibson,  a  prominent 
merchant  of  Boston,  who  wrote  a  journal  of  the 
siege  from  observations  made  on  the  spot,  besides 
contributing  five  hundred  pounds  toward  equipping 
the  army  for  its  work.1 

Pepperell's  appointment  soon  justified  Shirley's 
forecast.  It  gave  general  satisfaction  among  all 
ranks  and  orders  of  men.  On  the  day  that  he 
accepted  the  command  Pepperell  advanced  five 
thousand  pounds  to  the  provincial  treasury.  He 
also  paid  out  of  his  own  pocket  the  bounty  money 
offered  to  recruits  in  the  regiment  he  was  raising 
in  Maine.  Orders  were  soon  flying  in  every 
direction,  and  very  soon  everything  caught  the 


64  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

infection  of  his  energy.  The  expedition  at  once 
felt  an  extraordinary  momentum.  Volunteers 
flocked  to  the  different  rendezvous.  In  fact, 
more  offered  themselves  than  could  be  accepted. 
Again  the  loud  burr  of  the  drum, 

"  The  drums  that  beat  at  Louisburg  and  thundered  in  Quebec," 

i 

was  heard    throughout    New  England.     The  one 

question  of  the  day  was  "  Are  you  going  ? "  In 
fact,  little  else  was  talked  of,  for,  now  that  the 
mustering  of  armed  men  gave  form  and  consist- 
ency to  what  was  so  lately  a  crude  project  only, 
the  fortunes  of  the  province  were  felt  to  be 
embarked  in  its  success.  True  to  its  traditions, 
A  crusade  ^e  c^ergy  preached  the  expedition  into 
preached.  a  crusacie.  Again  the  old  bugbear  of 
Romish  aggression  was  made  to  serve  the  turn  of 
the  hour.  Religious  antipathies  were  inflamed  to 
the  point  of  fanaticism.  One  clergyman  armed 
himself  with  a  large  hatchet,  with  which  he  said 
he  purposed  chopping  up  into  kindling  wood  all 
the  Popish  images  he  should  find  adorning  the 
altars  of  Louisburg.  Still  another  drew  up  a  plan 
of  campaign  which  he  submitted  to  the  general. 


THE    ARMY    AND    ITS    GENERAL  65 

"  Carthage  must  be  destroyed ! "  became  the 
watchword,'  while  to  show  the  hand  of  God  power- 
fully working  for  the  right,  the  celebrated  George 
Whitefield  wrote  the  Latin  motto,  embroidered  on 
the  expeditionary  standard,  — 

"  Never  despair,  Christ  is  with  us." 

Thus  the  church  militant  was  not  only  repre- 
sented in  the  ranks  and  on  the  banner,  but  it  was 
equally  forward  in  proffering  counsel.  For  exam- 
ple :  one  minister  wrote  to  acquaint"  Shirley  how 
the  provincials  should  be  saved  from  being  blown 
up,  in  their  camps,  by  the  enemy's  mines.  He 
wanted  a  patrol  to  go  carefully  over  the  camping- 
ground  first.  While  one  struck  the  ground  with 
a  heavy  mallet,  another  should  lay  his  ear  to  it, 
and  if  it  sounded  suspiciously  hollow,  he  should 
instantly  drive  down  a  stake  in  order  that  the  spot 
might  be  avoided. 

Such  anecdotes  show  us  how  earnestly  all  classes 
of  men  entered  upon  the  work  in  hand.  How  to 
take  Louisburg  seemed  the  one  engrossing  subject 
of  every  man's  thoughts. 

Having  glanced  at  the  qualifications  of  the  gen- 


66  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

eral,  we  may  now  consider  the  composition  of  the 
army.  We  have  already  drawn  attention  to  the 
excellent  quality  of  its  material.  In  embodying  it 
for  actual  service,  the  old  traditions  of  the  British 
army  were  strictly  followed. 

The  expeditionary  corps  was  formed  in  ten  bat- 
talions. They  were  Pepperell's,2  Wolcott's3  (of 
The  Army  by  Connecticut),  Waldo's,4  Dwight's  5  (nom- 
Regiments.  jnaHy  an  artillery  battalion),  Moulton's,6 
Willard's,  Hale's,7  Richmond's,8  Gorham's,  and 
Moore's9  (of  New  Hampshire).  One  hundred  and 
fifty  men  of  this  regiment  were  in  the  pay  of 
Massachusetts.  Pepperell's,  Waldo's,  and  Moul- 
ton's were  mostly  raised  in  the  District  of  Maine. 
Pepperell  said  that  one-third  of  the  whole  force 
came  from  Maine.  Dwight  was  assigned  to  the 
command  of  the  artillery,'  with  the  rank  of  briga- 
dier ;  Gorham  to  the  special  service  of  landing  the 
troops  in  the  whaleboats,  which  had  been  provided, 
and  of  which  he  had  charge.  There  was  also  an 
independent  company  of  artificers,  under  Captain 
Bernard,  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Gridley  was 
appointed  chief  engineer  of  the  army. 

Pepperell  held  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general ; 


THE    ARMY    AND    ITS    GENERAL  6/ 

Wolcott,  that  of  major-general  ;  and  Waldo  that 
of  brigadier,  the  second  place  being  given  to  Con- 
necticut, in  recognition  of  the  prompt  and  valuable 
assistance  given  by  that  colony. 

As  a  whole,  the  army  was  neither  well  armed 
nor  properly  equipped,  or  sufficiently  provided 
it  oesbadi  w*tn  tents,  ammunition,  and  stores. 
equipped.  ^QO  much  haste  had  characterized  its 


formation  for  a  thorough  organization,  or  for  atten- 
tion to  details,  too  little  knowledge  for  the  instruc- 
tion in  their  duties  of  either  officers  or  men.  It 
is  true  that  some  of  them  had  seen  more  or  less 
bush-fighting  in  the  Indian  wars,  and  that  all  were 
expert  marksmen  or  skilful  woodsmen,  but  to  call 
such  an  unwieldy  and  undisciplined  assemblage 
of  men,  who  had  been  thus  suddenly  called  away 
from  their  workshops  and  ploughs,  an  army,  were 
a  libel  upon  the  name. 

Commodore  Edward  Tyng10  was  put  in  com- 
mand of  the  colonial  squadron  destined  to  escort 
the  army  to  its  destination,  to  cover  its  landing, 
and  afterwards  to  act  in  conjunction  with  it  on  the 
spot. 

The  writers  of  the  time  tell  us  that  "  the  winter 


68  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

proved  so  favorable  that  all  sorts  of  outdoor  busi- 
ness was  carried  on  as  well,  and  with  as  great  de- 
,  sPatcn>  as  at  any  other  season  of  the 
year."  The  month  of  February,  in  par- 
ticular, proved  very  mild.  The  rivers  and  harbors 
were  open,  and  the  fruitfulness  of  the  preceding 
season  had  made  provisions  plenty.  Douglass 
thinks  that  "  some  guardian  angel "  must  have 
preserved  the  troops  from  taking  the  small-pox, 
which  broke  out  in  Boston  about  the  time  of  their 
embarkation.  All  these  fortunate  accidents  were 
hailed  as  omens  of  success. 

•Thanks  to  the  enthusiasm  of  the  young  men  in 
enlisting,  and  the  energy  of  the  authorities  in 
equipping  them,  the  four  thousand  men  called  for 
were  mustered  under  arms,  ready  for  service,  in  a 
little  more  than  seven  weeks.  In  this  short  time, 
The  Provincial  too>  a  hundred  transports  had  been 
manned,  victualled,  and  got  ready  for 
sea.  The  embargo  had  provided  both  vessels  and 
sailors.  More  than  this,  a  little  squadron  of  four- 
teen vessels,  the  largest  carrying  only  twenty 
guns,  was  created  as  if  by  enchantment.  Here 
was  shown  a  vigor  that  deserved  success. 


THE    ARMY    AND    ITS    GENERAL  69 

The  Connecticut  and  New  Hampshire  contin- 
gents were  also  ready  to  march,  but  Rhode  Island 
had  not  yet  completed  hers.  By  disarming  Cas- 
tle William  in  Boston  harbor,  or  borrowing  old 
cannon  wherever  they  could  be  found,  Shirley 
had  managed  to  get  together  a  sort  of  makeshift 
for  a  siege-train.  All  being  ready  at  last,  after  a 
day  of  solemn  fasting  and  prayer  throughout  New 
England,  the  flotilla  set  sail  for  the  rendezvous  at 
Canso  in  the  last  week  of  March.  "  Pray  for  us 
while  we  fight  for  you,"  was  the  last  message  of 
the  departing  provincial  soldiers  to  their  friends 
on  shore. 

Equal  good-fortune  attended  the  transportation 
of  the  army  by  sea  to  a  point  several  hundred 
miles  distant,  during  one  of  the  stormiest  months 
of  the  year.  By  the  roth  of  April  the  whole  force 
was  assembled  at  Canso  in  readiness  to  act 
offensively  as  soon  as  the  Cape  Breton  shores 
should  be  free  of  ice.  All  this  had  been  done 
without  the  help  of  a  soldier,  a  ship,  or  a  penny 
from  England.  At  the  very  last  moment  Shirley 
received  from  Commodore  Warren,  in  answer  to 
his  request  for  assistance,  a  curt  refusal  to  take 


7O  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

part  in  the  enterprise  without  orders,  and  Shirley 
could  only  say  to  Pepperell  when  he  took  leave  of 
him,  that  his  best  and  only  hope  lay  in  his  own 
resources. 

But  by  this  time  the  enthusiasm  which  had 
carried  men  off  their  feet  had  begun  to  cool.  The 
excitements,  under  the  influence  of  which  this 
or  that  obstacle  had  been  impatiently  brushed 
aside,  had  given  way  to  the  sober  second  thought. 
One  by  one  they  rose  grimly  before  Pepperell's 
troubled  vision  like  the  ghosts  in  Macbeth.  Land 
the  troops  and  storm  the  works  had  been  the 
popular  way  of  disposing  of  a  fortress  which  the 
French  engineers  had  offered  to  defend  with  a 
garrison  of  women. 

1  GIBSON  was  very  active  during  the  siege,  especially  when  anything  of 
a  dangerous  nature  was  to  be  done.     He  was  a  retired  British  officer.     He 
was  one  of  the  three  who  escaped  death,  while  on  a  scout,  May  10.     With 
five  men  he  towed  a  fireship  against  the  West  Gate,  under  the  enemy's 
fire,  on  the  night  of  May  24.     It  burnt  three  vessels,  part  of  the  King's 
Gate,  and  part  of  a  stone  house  in  the  city.     Being  done  in  the  dead  of 
night,  it  caused  great  consternation  among  the  besieged. 

2  PEPPERELL'S  own  regiment  was  actually  commanded  by  his  lieuten- 
ant-colonel, John   Bradstreet,  who  was  afterwards  appointed  lieutenant- 
governor  of  Newfoundland,  but  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  next  war  with 
France,  he  served  with   distinction   on   the   New-York   frontier,   rising 


THE    ARMY    AND    ITS    GENERAL  7 1 

through  successive  grades  to  that  of  major-general  in  ths  British  army. 
Bradstreet  died  at  New  York  in  1774. 

3  GENERAL  ROGER  WOLCOTT  had  been  in  the  Canada  campaign  of 
1 71 1  without  seeing  any  service.    He  was  sixty-six  when  appointed  over  the 
Connecticut  contingent  under  Pepperell.     Wolcott  was  one  of  the  fore- 
most men  of  his  colony,  being  repeatedly  honored  with  the  highest  posts, 
those  of   chief  judge   and  governor   included.     David   Wooster  was   a 
captain  in  Wolcott's  regiment. 

4  SAMUEL  WALDO  was  a  Boston  merchant,  who  had  acquired  a  chief 
interest  in  the  Muscongus,  later  known  from  him  as  the  Waldo  Patent, 
in  Maine,  to  the  improvement  of  which  he  gave  the  best  years  of  his 
life.     Like  Pepperell,  he  was  a  wealthy  land-owner.      They  were  close 
friends,  Waldo's  daughter  being  betrothed  to  Pepperell:s  son  later.     His 
patent   finally   passed   to   General   Knox,  who  married   Waldo's  grand- 
daughter. 

5  JOSEPH  D  WIGHT  was  born  at  Dedham,  Mass.,  in  1703.    He  served  in 
the  Second  French  War  also.     Pepperell  commends  his  services,  as  chief 
of  artillery,  very  highly. 

6  JEREMIAH  MOULTON  was  fifty-seven  when  he  joined  the  expedition. 
He  had  seen  more  actual  fighting  than  any  other  officer  in  it.     Taken 
prisoner  by  the  Indians  at  the  sacking  of  York,  when  four  years  old,  he 
became  a  terror  to  them  in  his  manhood.     With   Harmon  he  destroyed 
Norridgewock  in  1724. 

7  ROBERT  HALE,  colonel  of  the  Essex  County  regiment,  had  been  a 
schoolmaster,  a  doctor,  and  a  justice  of  the  peace.    He  was  forty  two.     His 
major,  Moses  Titcomb,  afterwards  served  under  Sir  William  Johnson,  and 
was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Lake  George. 

8  SYLVESTER  RICHMOND, of  Dighton,  Mass.,  was  born  in  1698  ;  colonel 
of  the  Bristol  County  regiment.     He  was  high  sheriff  of  the  county  for 
many  years  after  his  return  from  Louisburg.     Died  in  1783,  in  his  eighty- 
fourth  year.     Lieutenant-Colonel  Ebenezer  Pitts  of  Dighton,  and  Major 


72  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

Joseph  Hodges   of   Norton,  of   Richmond's  regiment,  were  both  killed 
during  the  campaign. 

9  SAMUEL  MOORE'S  New  Hampshire  regiment  was  drafted  into  the 
Vigilant.  •  His    lieutenant-colonel,    Meserve,    afterward    served    under 
Abircromby,  and  again  in  the  second  siege  of  Louisburg  under  Amherst, 
dying  there  of  small-pox.     Matthew  Thornton,  signer  of  the  Declaration, 
was  surgeon  of  Moore's  regiment. 

10  EDWARD  TYNG,  merchant  of  Boston,  son  of  that  Colonel  Edward 
who  was  carried  a  prisoner  to  France,  with  John  Nelson,  by  Frontenac's 
order,  and  died  there  in  a  dungeon. 


THE    ARMY    AT    CANSO  73 


VII 

THE   ARMY   AT   CANSO 

THE  crude  plan  of  attack,  as  digested  at  Boston, 
consisted  in  an  investment  of  Louisburg  by  the 
The  Plan  of  ^^  f orces  an(^  a  blockade  by  sea.  To 
Attack.  enforce  this  blockade,  Shirley  had  sent 
out  some  armed  vessels  in  advance  of  the  expedi- 
tion, with  orders  to  cruise  off  the  island,  and  to 
intercept  all  vessels  they  should  fall  in  with,  so 
that  news  of  the  armament  might  not  get  into 
Louisburg,  by  any  chance,  before  its  coming. 

This  was  all  the  more  necessary  because  Shirley 
had  indulged  hopes,  from  the  first,  of  taking  the 
shirie  's  place  by  surprise,  and  so  obstinately 
project.  was  kg  wedded  t;O  the  notion  that  the 
thing  was  practicable,  that  he  had  drawn  up  at 
great  length  a  plan  of  campaign  of  which  this 
surprise  was  the  chief  feature,  and  in  which  he 
undertook  to  direct,  down  to  the  minutest  detail, 


74  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

where,  how,  and  when  the  troops  should  land, 
what  points  they  should  attack,  what  they  should 
do  if  the  assault  proved  a  failure  or  only  partially 
successful,  where  they  should  encamp,  raise  bat- 
teries and  post  guards ;  how  the  men  must  be 
handled  under  fire,  and  even  how  the  prisoners 
should  be  disposed  of,  for  Shirley,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  considerably  given  to  counting  his 
chickens  before  they  were  hatched. 

Being  a  lawyer  rather  than  a  soldier,  Shirley 
had  written  out  a  brief  instead  of  an  order  —  clear, 
concise,  direct.  But,  lengthy  as  it  was,  the  plan 
A  0  .  had  one  redeeming  feature,  which  turns 

A  Saving 

clause.  away  criticism  from  the  absurdities  with 

which  it  was  running  over.  This  was  the  post- 
script appended  to  it :  "  Sir,  upon  the  whole, 
notwithstanding  the  instructions  you  have  received 
from  me,  I  must  leave  it  to  you  to  act  upon 
unforeseen  emergencies  according  to  your  best 
discretion."  The  reading  of  it  must  have  lifted  a 
load  from  Pepperell's  mind !  It  really  looked  as  if 
Shirley  had  meant  to  be  the  real  generalissimo 
himself,  and  to  capture  Louisburg  by  proxy. 

Pepperell  was  still  hampered,  however,  with  a 


THE    ARMY    AT    CANSO  75 

council  of  war,  consisting  of  all  the  general  and 
field  officers  of  his  army,  whom  he  was  required 

Peppereii's  to  summon  to  his  aid  in  all  emergencies, 
council.  jf  it  be  true  that  jn  a  multitude  of 

counsels  there  is  wisdom,  then  Pepperell  was  to  be 
well  advised,  for  his  council  aggregated  between 
twenty  and  thirty  members. 

Pepperell  seems  to  have  conceived  that  he  ought 
to  submit  himself  wholly  to  Shirley's  guidance, 
since  he  himself  was  now  to  serve  his  first 
apprenticeship  in  war,  for  it  was  now  loyally 
attempted  to  carry  out  Shirley's  instructions  to 
the  letter.  In  all  these  preliminary  arrangements 
the  difference  between  Shirley's  brilliancy  and 
dash  and  Peppereii's  methodical  cast  of  mind  is 
very  marked  indeed.  It  would  sometimes  seem 
as  if  the  two  men  ought  to  have  changed  places. 

Shirley  had  appointed  the  rendezvous  to  be  at 

Canso,    which    place   had    been    abandoned   soon 

after  it  was  taken  from  us ;    first,   be- 

Why  the 

army  was  at    cause  it  was  the  natural  base  for  opera- 
tions against  Cape  Breton,  and  next  so 
that    if   the  descent  on  Louisburg   failed,   Canso 
and  the  command  of  the  straits  would,  at  least, 


76  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

have  been  recovered.  It  was,  as  we  have  said, 
within  easy  striking  distance  of  Louisburg.  Out 
in  front  of  Canso,  between  the  Nova  Scotia  and 
Cape  Breton  shores,  lay  Isle  Madame  or- Arichat, 
on  which  a  few  French  fishermen  were  living. 
Across  the  water  from  Arichat,  at  the  entrance  to 

Importance  of  the      BmS    d>Or>    laY    the    villag6     °f     St" 

st.  Peter's.  Peter's,  the  second  in  point  of  impor- 
tance in  Cape  Breton,  Louisburg  being  the  first. 
At  Arichat  everything  that  was  being  done  at 
Canso  could  be  easily  seen  and  communicated  to 
St.  Peter's.  At  St.  Peter's  word  could  be  sent  to 
Louisburg  by  way  of  the  Bras  d'Or  Lakes.  It 
therefore  stood  Pepperell  in  hand  to  clear  his 
vicinity  of  these  spies  and  informers  without 
delay,  unless  he  wished  to  -  find  the  enemy  fore- 
warned and  forearmed. 

Shirley  had   directed    Pepperell  to  destroy  St. 
Peter's.     Pepperell,  therefore,  sent  a  night  expedi- 
tion   there,    which,    however,    returned 

The  Ice  Block- 
ade at  Louis-   without  accomplishing  its  purpose.     But 

burg. 

his  greatest  fear,  lest  supplies  or  re-en- 
forcements should  get  into  Louisburg  by  sea,  was 
set  at  rest  on  finding  that  the  field  or  pack-ice, 


THE    ARMY    AT    CANSO  77 

which  had  come  down  out  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
and  the  east  winds  had  driven  up  against  the 
shores  of  Cape  Breton,  formed  a  secure  blockade 
against  all  comers,  himself  as  well  as  the  enemy. 
This  contingency  had  not  been  sufficiently 
weighed. 

Meanwhile,    Pepperell    set    to   work   fortifying 

Canso.     A   blockhouse,   ready  framed,   had   been 

sent  out  for  the  purpose.    This  was  now 

Canso  fortified. 

set  up,  garrisoned,  and  christened  Fort 
Prince  William.  Some  earthworks  were  also 
thrown  up  to  cover  this  new  post.  In  these  occu- 
pations, or  in  scouting  or  exercising,  the  troops 
were  kept  employed  until  the  ice  should  move  off 
the  shores. 

On  the  1 8th  of  April  a  French  thirty-gun  ship 

was  chased  off  the  coast,  while  trying  to  run  into 

.  _.     Louisburg.     Being  the  better  sailer,  she 

French  .Cruiser 

driven  off.  easily  got  clear  of  the  blockading  ves- 
sels, after  keeping  up  for  some  hours  a  sharp,  run- 
ning fight.  Even  this  occurrence  does  not  seem 
"to  have  fully  opened  the  eyes  of  the  French  com- 
mandant of  Louisburg  to  the  true  nature  of  the 
danger  which  threatened  him,  since  he  has  declared 


78 

that  he  thought  the  vessels  he  saw  watching  the 
harbor  were  only  English  privateers.  Perhaps 
nothing  about  the  whole  history  of  this  expedition 
is  more  strange  than  that  this  officer  should  have 
remained  wholly  ignorant  of  its  being  at  Canso  for 
nearly  three  weeks. 

The  army  had  been  lying  nearly  two  weeks  in- 
active, when,  to  Pepperell's  great  surprise  as  well 
as   joy,   Commodore   Warren   appeared 

April  23,  War- 
ren's Fleet       off  Canso  with  four  ships  of  war,  and, 

arrives. 

after  briefly  communicating  with  the 
general,  bore  away  for  Louisburg.  At  last  he  had 
received  his  orders  to  act  in  concert  with  Shirley, 
and,  like  a  true  sailor,  he  had  crowded  all  sail  for 
Effect  on  the  tne  scene  °f  action.  His  coming  put 
Army.  tke  armv  m  great  spirits,  for  it  was  sup- 

posed to  be  part  of  the  plan,  already  concerted,  by 
which  the  attack  should  be  made  irresistible.  And 
for  once  fortune  seems  to  have  determined  that 
the  bungling  of  ministers  should  not  defeat  the 
objects  had  in  view. 

On  the  following  day,  the  Connecticut  forces 
joined  Pepperell.  The  shores  of  Cape  Breton  were 
now  eagerly  scanned  for  the  first  appearance  of 


THE    ARMY    AT    CANSO  79 

open  water,  but  even  as  late  as  the  28th  Pepperell 

wrote  to    Shirley,   saying,    "We   impatiently  wait 

for  a  fair  wind    to    drive   the  ice  out 

April  24, 

Connecticut     of  the  bay,  and  if  we  do  not  suffer  for 

Forces  arrive.  .    . 

want  of  provisions,  make  no  doubt  but 
we  shall,  by  God's  favor,  be  able  soon  to  drive 
out  what  else  we  please  from  Cape  Breton."  The 
consumption  of  stores,  occasioned  by  the  unlooked- 
for  detention  at  Canso,  had,  in  fact,  become  a 
matter  of  serious  concern  with  Pepperell,  whose 
nearest  source  of  supply  was  Boston. 


8O  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 


VIII 

THE    SIEGE 

OUR  guard-vessels  having  reported  the  shores 

to  be  at  last  free  from  ice,  and  the  wind  coming 

fair  for  Louisburg,  the  welcome  signal 

Fleet  sails 

fromcanso,     to   weigh   anchor    was    given    on    the 

April  29. 

29th  of  April.  On  board  the  fleet  all 
was  now  bustle  and  excitement.  In  a  very  short 
time  a  hundred  transport-vessels  were  standing 
out  of  Canso  Harbor,  under  a  cloud  of  canvas,  for 
Gabarus  Bay,  the  place  fixed  upon  by  Shirley  for 
making  the  contemplated  descent. 

Bound  to  the  letter  of  his  orders,  Pepperell 
seems  to  have  first  purposed  making  an  attempt 
to  put  Shirley's  rash  project  in  execution.  To  do 
Night  Assault  this,  he  must  have  so  timed  his  move- 
given  up.  ments  as  to  reach  his  anchorage  after 
dark,  have  landed  his  troops  without  being  able  to 
see  what  obstacles  lay  before  them,  have  marched 


THE    SIEGE  83 

them  to  stations  situated  at  a  distance  from  the 
place  of  disembarkation,  over  ground  unknown, 
and  not  previously  reconnoitred,  to  throw  them 
against  the  enemy's  works  before  they  should  be 
discovered.  And  this  most  critical  of  all  military 
operations,  a  night  assault,  was  to  be  attempted 
by  wholly  undisciplined  men. 

Providentially  for  Pepperell,  the  wind  died  away 
before  he  could  reach  the  designated  point  of  dis- 
embarkation, so  that  this  mad  scheme  perished 
before  it  could  be  put  to  the  test ;  but  early  the 
next  morning  the  flotilla  was  discovered  entering 
Gabarus  Bay,  five  miles  southeast  from  the  fort- 
ress, and  in  full  view  from  its  ramparts.  So,  also, 
the  New  England  forces  could  see  the  gray  turrets 
of  the  redoubtable  stronghold  rising  in  the  dis- 
tance, and  could  hear  the  bells  of  Louisburg  peal- 
ing out  their  loud  alarm.  The  fortress  instantly 
fired  signal  guns  to  call  in  all  out  parties.  It  is 
said  that  there  had  been  a  grand  ball  the  night 
before,  and  that  the  company  had  scarce  been 
asleep  when  called  up  by  this  alarm.  The  boom- 
ing of  artillery,  sounding  like  the  drowsy  roar  of 
an  awakening  lion,  was  defiantly  echoed  back  from 


84  THE   TAKING   OF    LOUISBURG 

the  bosom  of  the  deep,  and  borne  on  the  cool 
breeze  to  the  startled  foemen's  ears  the  distant 
roll  of  drum,  and  bugle  blast,  peopled  the  lately 
deserted  sea  with  voices  of  the  coming  strife. 

Duchambon,  commander  of  the  fortress,  in- 
stantly hurried  off  a  hundred  and  fifty  men  to 
oppose  the  landing  of  our  troops. 

The  fleet  quickly  came  to  an  anchor,  and  the 
signal  was  hoisted  for  the  troops  to  disembark  at 
once.  Before  them  stretched  the  lonely  Cape 
Breton  shore,  on  which  the  breakers  rose  and  fell 
in  a  long  line  of  foam.  Though  this  heavy  surf 
threatened  to  swamp  the  boats,  the  men  crowded 
into  them  as  if  going  to  a  merry-making. 

Landing  at 

GabarusBay,  It  was  a  gallant  and  inspiring  sight  to 

April  30.  ,  111 

see  them  dash  on  toward  the  beach, 
emulous  who  should  reach  it  first,  and  eager  to 
meet  the  enemy,  who  were  waiting  for  them  there. 
By  making  a  feint  at  one  point,  and  then  pulling 
for  another  at  some  distance  from  the  first,  the 
boats  gained  an  undefended  part  of  the  shore 
before  the  French  could  come  up  with  them.  As 
soon  as  one  struck  the  ground,  the  men  jumped 
into  the  water,  each  taking  another  on  his  back 


THE    SIEGE  85 

and  wading  through  the  surf  to  the  shore.  In 
this  manner  the  landing  went  on  so  rapidly  that, 
when  the  enemy  finally  came  up,  they  were  easily 
driven  off,  with  the  loss  of  six  or  seven  men  killed, 
and  some  prisoners.  Before  it  was  dark  two  thou- 
sand men  bivouacked  for  the  night  within  cannon 
shot  of  Louisburg. 

Vaughan  now  led  forward  a  party  after  the 
retreating  enemy,  who,  finding  themselves  pur- 
sued, set  fire  to  thirty  or  forty  houses  outside  the 
city  walls. 

On  the  next  day,  the  work  of  landing  the 
rest  of  the  army,  the  artillery  and  stores,  was 
pushed  to  the  utmost,  though  the  heavy  surf 
rendered  this  a  work  of  uncommon  difficulty. 
Pepperell  now  pitched  his  camp  in  an  orderly 
manner  next  the  shore,  at  a  place  called  Flat  Point 
Cove,  where  he  could  communicate  with  the 
transports  and  fleet,  and  they  with  him.  He  now 
took  his  first  step  towards  clearing  the  two  miles 
of  open  ground  lying  between  him  and  Louisburg 
harbor,  with  the  view  of  fixing  the  location  of  his 
batteries,  and  of  driving  the  enemy  inside  the 
walls  of  the  fortress. 


86  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG. 

To  this  end  four  hundred  men  were  sent  out  to 
destroy  the  enemy's  magazines  situated  at  the 
head  of  the  harbor,  Vaughan  again  marching  with 
them.  This  detachment  having  set  fire  to  some 
Royal  Battery  warehouses  containing  naval  stores,  the 
deserted.  smoke  from  which  drifted  down  upon 
the  Royal  Battery,  the  officer  in  command  there, 
convinced  that  the  provincials  were  about  to  fall 
upon  him,  spiked  his  cannon  and  abandoned  the 
works  in  haste,  though  not  till  after  receiving 
permission  to  do  so. 

In  the  morning,  as  Vaughan  was  returning  to 
camp  with  only  thirteen  men,  the  deserted 
appearance  of  the  battery  caused  him  to  carefully 
examine  it,  when,  seeing  no  signs  of  life  about  the 
place,  —  no  flag  flying  or  smoke  rising  or  sentinels 
moving  about,  —  he  sent  forward  an  Indian  of  his 
party,  who,  finding  all  silent,  crept  through  an 
embrasure,  and  undid  the  gate  to  them.  Vaughan 
then  despatched  word  to  the  camp  that  he  was  in 
possession  of  the  place,  and  was  waiting  for  a 
re-enforcement  and  a  flag ;  but  meantime,  before 
either  could  reach  him,  one  of  his  men  climbed  up 
the  staff,  and  nailed  his  red  coat  to  it  for  a  flag. 


THE    SIEGE  87 

At  about  the  same  hour  Duchambon  was  send- 
ing a  strong  detachment  back  to  the  battery,  to 
complete  the  work  of  destruction  that  his  lieuten- 
ant  ^ad  ^t  unfinished.  At  least  this  is 


vau  ban 

attacked.        ^jg    own    statement.     It  was    supposed 

that  the  battery  was  still  unoccupied  or  occupied 
weakly,  otherwise  the  French  would  hardly  have 
risked  much  for  its  possession.  When  this 
detachment  came  round  in  their  boats  to  the  land- 
ing-place, near  the  battery,  Vaughan's  little  band 
attacked  them  with  great  spirit,  keeping  them  at 
bay  until  other  troops  had  time  to  join  him,  when 
the  discomfited  Frenchmen  were  driven  back 
whence  they  came. 

Thus  unexpectedly  did  one  of  the  most  formi- 
dable defences  fall  into  our  hands  ;  for  though  its 
isolated  situation  invited  an  attack,  and  though 
communication  with  the  city  could  be  easily  cut 

Advantage  of  off  except  bY  water'  the  Prompt  attempt 
this  capture.  to  recover  the  Royal  Battery  implies 

that  its  abandonment  was  at  least  premature.  Yet 
as  this  work  was  primarily  a  harbor  defence  only, 
it  was  evidently  not  looked  upon  as  tenable  against 
a  land  attack,  although  it  is  quite  as  clear  that  the 


88  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

time  had  not  yet  come  for  deserting  it.  But  the 
fact  that  it  was  left  uninjured  instead  of  being 
blown  up  assures  us  that  the  garrison  must  have 
left  in  a  panic. 

But  whether  the  French  attached  much  or  little 
consequence  to  this  battery  so  long  as  it  remained 
in  their  hands,  it  became  in  ours  a  tremendous 
auxiliary  to  the  conquest  of  the  city.  By  its 
capture  we  obtained  thirty  heavy  cannon,  all  of 
which  were  soon  made  serviceable,  besides  a  large 
quantity  of  shot  and  shell,  than  which  nothing 
could  have  been  more  acceptable  at  this  time. 
And  although  only  three  or  four  of  its  heavy  guns 
could  be  trained  upon  the  city,  its  capture 
removed  one  of  the  most  formidable  obstacles  to 
the  entrance  of  our  fleet.  It  also  afforded  an 
excellent  place  of  arms  for  our  soldiers,  whose 
confidence  was  greatly  strengthened.  In  a  word, 
the  siege  was  making  progress. ' 

We  cannot  help  referring  here  to  the  fact  that 
notwithstanding  Shirley's  idea  had  met  with  so 
much  ridicule  it  had,  nevertheless,  come  true  in 
one  part  at  least,  since  if  the  proposal  to  turn  the 
enemy's  own  cannon  against  them  had  seemed 


THE    SIEGE  89 

somewhat  whimsical  when  it  was  broached,  it 
certainly  proved  prophetic  in  this  case,  for  within 
twenty-four  hours  after  its  taking  the  guns  of  the 
Royal  Battery  were  thundering  against  the  city. 

Pepperell  had  at  once  ordered  Waldo's  regiment 
into  the  captured  battery.  The  enemy  had  not 
even  stopped  to  knock  off  the  trunnions  of  the 
cannon,  so  that  the  smiths,  under  the  direction  of 

Major  Pomeroy,1  who  was  himself  a  gun- 
Firing  begun. 

smith,  had  only  to  drill  them  out  again. 

Waldo  fired  the  first  shot  into  the  city.  It  is  said 
to  have  killed  fourteen  men.  The  fire  was  main- 
tained with  destructive  effect,  and  it  drew  forth  a 
reply  from  the  enemy,  with  both  shot  and  shell. 

The  siege  may  now  be  said  to  have  fairly  begun, 
and  begun  prosperously.  Both  sides  had  stripped 
for  fighting, 'and  it  remained  to  be  seen  whether 
Pepperell's  raw  levies  would  continue  steadfast 
under  the  many  trials  of  which  these  events  were 
but  a  foretaste. 

Louisburg  was  now  practically  invested  on  the 
land  side,  the  fleet,  with  its  heavy  armament, 
remaining  useless,  however,  with  respect  to  active 
co-operation  in  the  siege  itself,  because  its  com- 


QO  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

mander  dared  not  take  his  ships  into  the  harbor 
under  fire  of  the  enemy's  batteries.  The  army 
and  navy  were  acting  therefore  without  that  con- 
cert which  alone  would  have  allowed  their  united 
strength  to  be  effectively  tested.  On  its  part,  the 
navy  was  simply  making  a  display  of  force  which 
could  not  be  employed,  though  it  maintained  a 
strict  blockade.  In  any  case,  then,  the  brunt  of 
the  siege  must  fall  on  the  army,  since,  as  Warren 
informed  Pepperell,  the  fleet  could  take  no  part  in 
battering  the  city  until  the  harbor  defences  should 
first  have  been  taken  or  silenced.  And  when  this 
was  done,  the  siege  must  probably  have  been  near 
its  end,  fleet  or  no  fleet. 

Pepperell  manfully  turned,  however,  to  a  task 
which  he  had  supposed  would  be  shared  between 
the  commodore  and  himself.  If  he  was  no  longer 
confident  under  fresh  disappointments,  they  devel- 
oped in  him  unexpected  firmness  and  most  heroic 
patience.  Let  us  see  what  this  task  was,  and  in 
what  manner  the  citizen-general  set  about  it. 
That  it  was  done  with  true  military  judgment  is 
abundantly  proved  by  the  fact  that,  when  Louis- 
burg  was  assaulted  and  taken  in  1758,  by  the  com- 


THE    SIEGE  93 

bincd  land  and  naval  forces  of  Amherst  and  Bos- 
cawen,  Pepperell's  plan  of  attack  was  followed 
step  by  step,  and  to  the  letter. 

The  most  formidable  of  the  harbor  defences 
were  the  Island  Battery,  to  which  attention  has 
The  Harbor  Deen  called  in  a  previous  chapter,  the 
Defences.  Circular  Battery,  a  work  situated  at  the 
extreme  northwest  corner  of  the  city  walls,  and 
forming  the  reverse  face  of  the  powerful  Dauphin 
Bastion,  from  which  the  West  Gate  of  the  city 
opened,  with  the  Water  Battery,  or  Batterie  de  la 
Greve,  placed  at  the  opposite  angle  of  the  harbor 
shore.2  The  cross-fire  from  these  two  batteries 
effectually  raked  the  whole  harbor  from  shore  to 
shore,  but  it  was  by  no  means  so  dangerous  as 
that  of  the  Island  Battery,  where  ships  must  pass 
within  point-blank  range  of  the  heaviest  artillery. 

Such,  then,  was  the  admirable  system  of  harbor 
defences  still  remaining  intact,  even  after  the  fall 
of  the  Royal  Battery.  Instead,  therefore,  of  con- 
centrating his  whole  fire  upon  one  or  two  points, 
in  his  front,  with  a  view  of  breaching  the  walls  in 
the  shortest  time,  and  of  storming  the  city  at  the 
head  of  his  troops,  Pepperell  was  made  to  throw 


94  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

half  his  available  fire  upon  the  batteries  that  were 
not  at  all  in  his  own  way,  though  they  blocked  the 
way  to  the  fleet.3 

It  will  be  seen  that  these  circumstances  imposed 
upon  Pepperell  a  task  of  no  little  magnitude. 
They  compelled  him  to  attack  the  very  strongest, 
instead  of  the  weakest,  parts  of  the  fortress,  and 
necessarily  confined  the  siege  operations  within  a 
comparatively  small  space  of  the  enemy's  long  line. 

No  time  was  lost  in  getting  the  siege  train  over 
from  Gabarus  Bay  to  the  positions  marked  out  for 
erecting  the  breaching  batteries.  The  infinite 
labor  involved  in  doing  this  can  hardly  be  under- 
stood except  by  those  who  have  themselves  gone 
over  the  ground.  Every  gun  and  every  pound  of 
provisions  and  ammunition  had  to  be  dragged  two 
miles,  through  marshes  and  over  rocks,  to  the 
allotted  stations.  This  transit  being  impracticable 
for  wheel-carriages,  sledges  were  constructed  by 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Meserve  of  the  New  Hamp- 
shire regiment,  to  which  relays  of  men  harnessed 
themselves  in  turn,  as  they  do  in  Arctic  journeys, 
and  in  this  way  the  cannon,  mortars,  and  stores 
were  slowly  dragged  through  the  spongy  turf, 


THE    SIEGE  95 

where  the  mud  was  frequently  knee-deep,  to  the 
trenches  before  Louisburg.  None  but  the  rugged 
yeomen  of  New  England  —  men  inured  to  all  sorts 
of  outdoor  labor  in  woods  and  fields  —  could  have 
successfully  accomplished  such  a  herculean  task. 
But  such  severe  toil  as  this  was  soon  put  half  the 
army  in  the  hospitals. 

By  the  5th  of  May  Pepperell  had  got  two  mor- 
tar-batteries playing  upon  the  city  from  the  base 
of  Green  Hill,  over  which  the  road  passes  to 
Sydney.  Meantime,  Duchambon,  seeing  himself 
blockaded  both  by  sea  and  by  land,  had  hurriedly 
sent  off  an  express  to  recall  the  troops  that  had 
gone  out  some  time  before  against  Annapolis,  in 
concert  with  a  force  sent  from  Quebec, 

Nova  Scotia 

freed  of  in-      little  dreaming  that  he  himself  would 
soon  be  attacked.4    The  first  fruits  of 
Shirley's  sagacity  ripened  thus  early  in  relieving 
Nova  Scotia  from  invasion. 

The  5th  being  Sunday,  divine  service  was  held 
First  sabbath  *n  thQ  chapel  of  the  Royal  Battery, 
in  camp.  Pepperell's  hardy  New  Englanders  list- 
ened to  the  first  Protestant  sermon  ever  preached, 
perhaps,  on  the  island  of  Cape  Breton,  from  the 


96  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

well-chosen  text  "Enter  into  His  gates  with 
thanksgiving,  and  into  His  courts  with  praise." 
After  their  devotions  were  over,  we  are  told  that 
the  troops  "  fired  smartly  at  the  city." 

Meantime,  also,  Colonel  Moulton,  who  had  been 
left  at  Canso  for  the  purpose,  rejoined  the  army 
after  destroying  St.  Peter's.  Two  sallies  made  by 
the  enemy  against  the  nearest  mortar-battery  had 
been  repulsed.  Its  fire,  augmented  by  some  forty- 
two-pounders  taken  from  the  Royal  Battery,  already 
much  distressed  the  garrison,  its  balls  coming 
against  the  caserns  and  into  the  town,  where  they 
traversed  the  streets  from  end  to  end,  and  riddled 
the  houses  in  their  passage.  It  never  ceased  firing 
during  the  siege.  In  his  report  Duchambon  calls 
it  the  most  dangerous  of  any  that  the  besiegers 
raised. 

On  the  7th  a  flag  was  sent  into  the  city  with  a 
summons  to  surrender.  Firing  was  suspended 
Garrison  sum-  im^  '^s  return,  with  Duchambon's  defi- 
moned.  ant  message,  that  inasmuch  "  as  the 

King  had  confided  to  him  the  defence  of  the  fort- 
ress, he  had  no  other  reply  but  by  the  mouths  of 
his  cannon." 


THE    SIEGE  97 

This  check  prompted  a  disposition  to  attack  the 
city  by  storm  at  once,  but  upon  reflection  more 
moderate  counsels  prevailed,  and  the  attempt  was 
put  off.  Pepperell  went  on  with  his  approaches 
toward  the  West  Gate,  under  a  constant  fire  from 
all  the  enemy's  batteries.  And  as  every*collection 
of  men  drew  the  enemy's  fire  to  the  spot,  this 
work  could  only  be  done  at  night,  under  great  dis- 
advantages. The  balls  they  sent  him  were  picked 
up  and  returned  from  his  own  cannon  with  true 
New  England  thrift,  in  order  to  husband  his  own 
ammunition.  While  thus  engaged  with  the  enemy 
in  his  front,  he  had  also  to  keep  an  eye  upon  the 
outlying  parties  of  French  and  Indians  in  his  rear, 
who  had  been  scraped  together  from  scattered  set- 
tlements, and  were  lurking  about  his  camp  with 
the  view  of  raiding  it  unawares.  On  May  10,  a 
scouting  party  of  twenty-five  men  from  Waldo's 
regiment  was  sent  out  to  find  and  drive  off  these 
Scouting  Party  marauders.  While  they  were  engaged 
efeated.  ^  jn  piunciering  Some  dwelling-houses  at 
one  of  the  out-settlements,  they  themselves  were 
unexpectedly  attacked  by  a  superior  force,  and  all 
but  three  killed,  the  Indians  murdering  the  pris- 


98  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

oners  in  cold  blood.  On  the  following  day  our 
men  returned  to  the  scene  of  disaster,  and  after 
burying  their  fallen  comrades,  they  burned  the 
place  to  the  ground. 

With  these  events  the  campaign  settled  down 
into  the  stow  and  laborious  operations  of  a  regular 
siege ;  and  here  began  those  inevitable  bickerings 
between  the  chiefs  of  the  land  and  naval  forces, 
which,  in  a  man  of  different  temper  than  Pepper- 
ell  was,  might  have  led  to  serious  results. 

In  Shirley,  his  lawful  captain-general,  Pepperell 
had  always  a  superior  whose  orders  he  felt  bound 
to  obey  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  cost  what  it 
might.  Fortunately,  Shirley's  power  of  annoy- 
ance was  limited  by  distance,  though  he  kept  up 
Disagree-  an  animated  fire  of  suggestions.  In 
Warren,  however,  the  brusque  and  im- 
pulsive sailor,  Pepperell  now  found  a  tutor  and 
a  critic,  whose  irritation  at  the  subordinate  part 
he  was  playing  showed  itself  in  unreasonable 
demands  upon  his  slow  but  sure  coadjutor,  and 
now  and  then  even  in  a  hardly  concealed  sneer. 
As  time  wore  on,  Warren  grew  more  and  more 
restive  and  importunate,  while  Pepperell  continued 


THE   SIEGE  99 

patient,  calm,  and  methodical  to  the  last.  Warren 
would  call  his  fleet-captains  together,  hold  a  coun- 
cil, discuss  the  situation  from  his  point  of  vie'w, 
and  send  off  to  Pepperell  the  result  of  their  delib- 
erations, with  the  final  exhortation  attached,  "  For 
God's  sake  let  us  do  something!"  —that  "some- 
thing "  being  that  Pepperell  should  practically  fin- 
ish the  siege  without  him,  as  we  have  already 
shown.  Warren  was  a  man  standing  at  a  door 
to  keep  out  intruders,  while  the  two  actual  adver- 
saries were  fighting  it  out  inside.  He  might  occa- 
sionally halloo  to  them  to  be  quick  about  it,  but  he 
was  hardly  in  the  fight  himself. 

Pepperell  would  then  get  his  council  together  in 
his  turn,  and,  smarting  under  the  sense  of  injustice, 
would  submit  the  lecture  that  Warren  had  read 
him,  with  its  thinly  veiled  irony,  and  unconcealed 
hauteur,  to  which  the  imputation  of  ignorance  was 
not  lacking.  The  situation  would  then  be  again 
discussed  in  all  its  bearings,  from  the  army's  stand- 
point, which  might  be  stated  as  follows  :  The  fort- 
ress cannot  be  stormed  until  we  have  made  a 
practicable  breach  in  the  walls.  We  must  finish  our 
batteries  before  .this  can  be  done.  Or  let  the  com- 


IOO  THE    TAKING    OF    LOU1SBURG 

modore  bring  in  his  ships  and  assist  in  silencing 
the  enemy's  fire.  The  army  is  losing  strength 
every  day  by  sickness,  while  the  fleet  is  gaining 
by  the  arrival  of  fresh  ships.  We  cannot,  if  we 
would,  pull  the  commodore's  chestnuts  out  of  the 
fire  and  our  own  too. 

1  MAJOR  SETH   POMEROY  of  Northampton,  Mass.,  was  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  Williams's  regiment  in  the  battle  of  Lake  George,  1755,  succeed- 
ing to   the    command  after  Williams's  death.     At  the  beginning  of   the 
Revolution  he  fought  as  a  volunteer  at  Bunker  Hill. 

2  REFERENCE  should  be  made  to  the  plan  at  page  91.     It  will  greatly 
simplify  the  siege  operations  to  the  reader  if  he  will  keep  in  mind  the  fact 
that  the  land  attack  was  wholly  confined  within  the  points  designated  by 
A  and  B  on  this  plan,  or  between  the  Dauphin  and  King's  bastions.     For 
our  purpose,  it  is  only  necessary  to  add  that  the  harbor  front  was  defended 
by  a  strong  wall  of  masonry,  joining  the  Water  Battery,  G,  with  the  Dau- 
phin  Bastion,  A.     In  this  wall  were  five  gates,  leading  to  the  water-side. 
It  was  the  point  at  which  the  city  would  be  exposed  to  assault  from  ship- 
ping or  their  boats. 

8  THE  ISLAND  BATTERY  could  not  materially  hinder  the  progress  of 
the  siege,  and  must  have  fallen  with  the  city.  The  Circular  Battery  could 
not  fire  upon  the  besiegers  at  all,  as  it  bore  upon  the  harbor,  but  Warren 
insisted  that  he  could  not  go  in  until  these  two  works  were  silenced.  If 
the  time  spent  in  doing  this  had  been  wholly  employed  in  battering  down 
the  West  Gate  and  its  approaches,  the  city  might  have  been  taken  with- 
out the  fleet,  leaving  out  of  view,  of  course,  the  supposition  of  a  repulse  to 
the  storming  party.  It  is  a  strong  assertion  to  say  that  the  city  could 
not  have  been  taken  without  the  fleet,  because  no  trial  was  made. 

4  THE  ATTACK  upon  Annapolis  having  failed,  these  troops  tried  to 
get  back  to  Louisburg,  but  were  unable  to  do  so.  With  their  assistance 
Duchambon  thinks  he  could  have  held  out. 


THE    SIEGE    CONTINUED  IOI 


IX 

THE    SIEGE    CONTINUED 

THE  routine  of  camp  life  is  not  without  interest 
as  tending  to  show  what  was  the  temper  of  the 
men  under  circumstances  of  unusual  trial  and 
hardship.  They  were  housed  in  tents,  most  of 
which  proved  rotten  and  unserviceable,  or  in 
booths,  which  they  built  for  themselves  out  of 
poles  and  green  boughs  cut  in  the  neighboring 
woods.  The  relief  parties,  told  off  each 

Camp  Routine. 

day  for  work  in  the  trenches,  were 
marched  to  their  stations  after  dark,  as  the  ene- 
my's fire  swept  the  ground  over  which  they  must 
pass.  For  a  like  reason,  the  fatigue  parties  could 
only  bring  up  the  daily  supplies  of  provisions  and 
ammunition  to  the  trenches  from  Gabarus  Bay, 
after  darkness  had  set  in.  By  great  good-fortune, 
the  weather  continued  dry  and  pleasant ;  other- 
wise the  bad  housing  and  severe  toil  must  have 


IO2  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISHURG 

told  on  the  health  of  the  army  even  more  severely 
than  it  did,  while  work  in  the  trenches  would 
have  been  suspended  during  the  intervals  of  *  wet 
weather. 

A  force  like  this,  composed  of  men  who  were 
the  equals  of  their  officers  at  home,  not  bound 
together  by  habits  of  passive  obedience  formed 
under  the  severe  penalties  of  martial  law,  could 
not  be  expected  to  observe  the  exact  discipline  of 
regular  soldiers.  It  was  not  attempted  to  enforce 
it.  Not  one  case  of  punishment  for  infraction  of 
orders  is  reported  during  the  siege.  But  officers 
and  men  had  in  them  the  making  of  far  better  sol- 
diers than  the  ordinary  rank  and  file  of  armies. 
There  were  men  in  the  ranks  who  rose  to  be 
colonels  and  brigadiers  in  the  revolutionary  con- 
test.1 The  hardest  duty  was  performed  without 
spirit  of  the  grumbling;  the  most  dangerous  service 
Army.  found  plenty  of  volunteers ;  and  Pep- 

perell  himself  has  borne  witness  that  nothing 
pleased  the  men  better  than  to  be  ordered  off  on 
some  scouting  expedition  that  promised  to  bring 
on  a  brush  with  the  enemy. 

This   spirit   is  plainly  manifest    in   the   letters 


THE    SIEGE    CONTINUED  IO3 

which  have  been  preserved.  In  one  of  them 
Major  Pomeroy  tells  his  wife  that  "  it  looks  as  if 
our  campaign  would  last  long  ;  but '  I  am  willing 
to  stay  till  God's  time  comes  to  deliver  the  city 
into  our  hands."  The  reply  is  worthy  of  a  woman 
of  Sparta  :  "  Suffer  no  anxious  thoughts  to  rest  in 
your  mind  about  me.  The  whole  town  is  much 
engaged  with  concern  for  the  expedition,  how 
Providence  will  order  the  affair,  for  which  religious 
meetings  every  week  are  maintained.  I  leave  you 
in  the  hand  of  God." 

There  is  not  a  despatch  or  a  letter  of  Pepperell's 
extant,  in  which  this  dependence  upon  the  Over- 
ruling Hand  is  not  acknowledged.  The  barbaric 
utterance  that  Providence  is  always  on  the  side  of 
the  strongest  battalions  would  have  shocked  the 
men  of  Louisburg  as  deeply  as  it  would  the  men 
of  Preston,  Edgehill,  and  Marston  Moor.  The 
conviction  that  their  cause  was  a  righteous  one, 
and  must  therefore  prevail,  was  a  power  still  active 
among  Puritan  soldiers  :  nor  did  they  fail  to  give 
the  honor  and  praise  of  achieved  victory  to  Him 
whom  they  so  steadfastly  owned  as  the  Leader  of 
Armies  and  the  God  of  Battles. 


IO4  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

There  were  not  wanting  incidents  which  the 
soldiers  treasured  up  as  direct  manifestations  of 
Divine  favor.  Moses  Coffin,  of  Newbury,  who 
officiated  in  the  double  capacity  of  chaplain  and 
drummer,  and  who  had  been  nicknamed  in  conse- 
quence the  "drum  ecclesiastic,"  carried  a  small 
pocket-Bible  about  with  him  wherever  he  went. 
On  returning  to  camp,  after  an  engagement  with 
the  enemy,  he  found  that  a  bullet  had  passed 
nearly  through  the  sacred  book,  thus,  undoubtedly, 
saving  his  life. 

The  relaxation  from  discipline  has  been  more  or 
less  commented  upon  by  several  writers,  as  if  it 
implied  a  grave  delinquency  in  the  head  of  the 
army.  We  are  of  the  opinion,  however,  that  it 
was  the  safety-valve  of  this  army,  under  the 
extraordinary  pressure  laid  upon  it.  So  while  we 
may  smile  at  the  comparison  made  by  Douglass, 
who  says  that  the  siege  resembled  a  "  Cambridge 
Commencement,"  or  at  the  antics  described  by 
Frolics  in  Belknap,2  we  need  not  feel  ourselves 
camp.  bound  to  accept  their  conclusions.  This 

author  says  :  "  Those  who  were  on  the  spot,  have 
frequently  in  my  hearing  laughed  at  the  recital 


THE    SIEGE    CONTINUED  10$ 

of  their  own  irregularities,  and  expressed  their 
admiration  when  they  reflected  on  the  almost 
miraculous  preservation  of  the  army  from  destruc- 
tion. They  indeed  presented  a  formidable  front 
to  the  enemy,  but  the  rear  was  a  scene  of  confu- 
sion and  frolic.  While  some  were  on  duty  at  the 
trenches,  others  were  racing,  wrestling,  pitching 
quoits,  firing  at  marks  or  birds,  or  running  after 
shot  from  the  enemy's  guns  for  which  they 
received  a  bounty." 

In  his  unscientific  way,  Pepperell  was  daily 
tightening  his  grasp  upon  Louisburg.  Gridley,3 
who  acted  in  the  capacity  of  chief  engineer,  had 
picked  up  from  books  all  the  knowledge  he 
Our  Fascine  possessed,  but  he  soon  showed  a  natural 
Batteries.  aptitude  for  that  branch  of  the  service. 
Dwight,  the  chief  of  artillery,  is  not  known  ever 
to  have  pointed  a  shotted  gun  in  his  life.  Instead 
of  gradual  approaches,  of  zigzags  and  epaule- 
ments,  the  ground  was  simply  staked  out  where 
the  batteries  were  to  be  placed.  After  dark  the 
working  parties  started  for  the  spot,  carrying 
bundles  of  fascines  on  their  backs,  laid  them  on 
the  lines,  and  then  began  digging  the  trenches 


IO6  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

and  throwing  up  the  embankment  by  the  light  of 
their  lanterns.  All  the  batteries  at  Louisburg 
were  constructed  in  this  simple  fashion.  The 
work  of  making  the  platforms,  getting  up  the 
cannon,  and  mounting  them,  was-  attended  with 
far 'greater  labor  and  risk. 

In  this  manner  a  fascine  battery  covered  by  a 
trench  in  front,  on  which  the  provincials  had  been 
working  like  beavers  for  two  days  and  nights,  was 
raised  within  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  the 
West  Gate,  against  which  it  began  sending  its  shot 
on  the  1 8th.  This  was  by  much  the 

The  Advanced 

Battery  opens  most  dangerous  effort  that  the  besiegers 

Fire  May  18. 

had  yet  made,  and  the  enemy  at  once 
trained  every  gun  upon  it  that  would  bear,  in  the 
hope  of  either  demolishing  or  silencing  the  work. 
It  was  so  near  that  the  men  in  the  trenches,  and 
those  on  the  walls,  kept  up  a  continual  fire  of  mus- 
ketry at  each  other,  interspersed  with  sallies  of 
wit,  whenever  there  was  a  lull  in  the  firing.  The 
French  gunners,  who  were  kept  well  supplied  with 
wine,  would  drink  to  the  besiegers,  and  invite 
them  over  to  breakfast  or  to  take  a  glass  of  wine. 
In  two  days  the  fire  of  our  guns  had  beaten 


THE    SIEGE    CONTINUED  IC>9 

down  the  drawbridges,  part  of  the  West  Gate, 
and  some  of  the  adjoining  wall.  Pepperell  com- 
plains at  this  time  of  his  want  of  good  gunners, 
also  of  a  sufficient  supply  of  powder  to  make  good 
the  daily  consumption,  of  which  he  had  no  previous 
cannon  conception,  but  is  cheered  by  finding 

discovered.  thirty  cannon  sunk  at  low-water  mark 
on  the  opposite  -side  of  the  harbor,  which  he 
designed  mounting  at  the  lighthouse  forthwith, 
for  attacking  the  Island  Battery.  Gorham's 
regiment  was  posted  therewith  this  object.  Thus 
again  were  the  enemy  furnishing  means  for  their 
own  destruction.  Foreseeing  that  this  fortifica- 
tion would  shut  the  port  to  ships  coming  to  his 
relief,  Duchambon  sent  a  hundred  men  across 
the  harbor  to  drive  off  the  provincials.  A  sharp 
fight  ensued,  in  which  the  enemy  were  defeated. 

By  this  time  another  fascine  battery  situated  by 

the  shore,  at  a  point  nine  hundred  yards  from  the 

-walls,  began  raking  the  Circular  Battery 

Titcomb's  f 

Battery  at       of  the  enemy,  in  conjunction  with  the 

Work 

direct  fire  from  our  Advanced  Battery. 
It  was  called  Titcomb's,  from  the  officer  in  charge, 
Major  Moses  Titcomb  of  Hale's  regiment.  These 


IIO  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

two  fortifications  were  now  knocking  to  pieces 
the  northwest  corner  of  the  enemy's  ponderous 
works,  known  as  the  Dauphin  Bastion.  We  were 
now  playing  on  Louisburg  from  three  batteries 
on  the  shore  of  the  harbor,  three  in  the  rear  of 
these,  and  had  another  in  process  of  construction 
at  the  lighthouse,  all  of  which,  except  the  last, 
had  been  completed  under  fire  within  twenty  days, 
without  recourse  to  any  scientific  rules  whatever. 

In  spite  of  Warren's  watchfulness  one  vessel 
had  slipped  through  his  squadron  into  Louisburg 
unperceived,  bringing  supplies  to  the  besieged, 
capture  of  the  An  event  now  took  place  which,  to  use 
vigilant.  Pepperell's  words,  "  produced  a  burst  of 
joy  in  the  army,  and  animated  the  men  with  fresh 
courage  to  persevere."  The  annual  supply  ship 
from  France,  for  which  our  fleet  had  been  con- 
stantly on  the  lookout,  had  run  close  in  with  the 
harbor  in  a  thick  fog,  undiscovered  by  our  vessels, 
and  wholly  unsuspicious  of  danger  herself.  When 
the  fog  lifted  she  was  seen  and  engaged  by  the 
Mermaid,  a  forty-gun  frigate,  until  the  rest  of  the 
squadron  could  come  to  her  aid,  when,  after  a 
spirited  combat,  the  French  ship  was  forced  to 


THE    SIEGE    CONTINUED  III 

strike  her  colors.  The  prize  proved  to  be  the 
Vigilant,  a  new  sixty-gun  ship,  loaded  with  stores 
and  munitions  for  Louisburg.  She  was  soon  put 
in  fighting  trim  again,  and  manned  by  drafts  made 
from  the  army  and  transports. 

By  the  24th,  two  more  heavy  ships,  which  the 
ministry  had  sent  out  immediately  upon  receiving 
Shirley's  advices  that  the  expedition  had  been 
decided  upon,4  now  joined  Warren,  who  at  length 
felt  himself  emboldened  to  ask  Pepperell's  co-op- 
eration in  the  following  plan  of  attack.  It  was 
proposed  to  distribute  sixteen  hundred  men,  to  be 
taken  from  the  army,  among  the  ships  of  war,  all 
of  which  should  then  go  into  the  harbor  and 
attack  the  enemy's  batteries  vigorously.  Under 
cover  of  this  fire,  the  soldiers,  with  the 

Warren  pro- 
poses to          marines  from    the  ships,  were  to    land 

and  assault  the  city.  Pepperell  himself 
was  to  have  no  share  in  this  business,  except  as  a 
looker-on,  but  was  to  put  his  troops  under  the 
command  of  an  officer  of  marines  who  should 
take  his  orders  from  Warren  only. 

This   implied   censure   to   the   conduct  of   the 
army  and  its  chief,  followed  up  the  next  day  by 


112  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

the  tart  question  of  "  Pray  how  came  the  Island 
Battery  not  to  be  attacked  ? "  seems  to  have 
goaded  Pepperell  into  giving  the  order  for  a  night 
attack  upon  that  strong  post.  Indeed,  Pepperell's 
perplexities  were  growing  every  hour.  On  the 
day  he  received  Warren's  cool  proposition  to  take 
the  control  of  the  army  out  of  his  hands,  he  had 
been  obliged  to  send  off  a  flying  column  in  pursuit 
of  a  force  which  his  scouts  had  reported  was  at 
Mira  Bay,  fifteen  miles  from  his  camp.  In  fact, 
trie  forces  which  Duchambon  had  recalled  from 
Annapolis  were  watching  their  chance  either  to 
make  a  dash  into  Louisburg,  or  throw  themselves 
upon  the  besiegers'  trenches  unawares. 

Notwithstanding  the  hazard,  it  was  determined 

to  storm  the  Island  Battery.     For  this  purpose, 

four  hundred  volunteers  embarked  in  whale-boats 

on  the  night  of   the  27th,  and  rowed  cautiously 

round   the   outer  shore  .of  the   harbor 

Island  Bat- 
tery stormed  toward  the  back  of  the  island,  in  the  ex- 
pectation of  finding  that  side  unguarded. 
They  were,  however,  discovered  by  the  sentinels 
in  season  to  thwart  the  plan  of  surprise.  The 
garrison  was  alarmed.  Still  the  brave  provincials 


THE   SIEGE   CONTINUED  113 

would  not  turn  back.  Cannon  and  musketry  were 
turned  on  them  from  the  island  and  city.  Through 
this  storm  of  shot,  by  which  many  of  the  boats 
were  sunk  before  they  could  reach  the  shore,  only 
about  half  the  attacking  force  passed  unscathed. 
In  scrambling  up  the  rocks  through  a  drenching 
surf,  most  of  their  muskets  were  wet  with  salt 
water,  and  rendered  useless.  Not  yet  dismayed, 
the  assailants  fought  their  numerous  foes  hand  to 
hand  for  nearly  an  hour.  Captain  Brooks,  their 
leader,  was  cut  down  in  the  melee. 

Gallantry  of 

William         One  William  Tufts,  a  brave  lad  of  only 

Tufts,  Jr. 

nineteen,  got  into  the  battery,  climbed 
the  flagstaff,  tore  down  the  French  colors,  and 
fastened  his  own  red  coat  to  the  staff,  under  a 
shower  of  balls,  many  of  which  went  through  his 
clothes  without  harming  him.  Sixty  men  were 
slain  -before  the  rest  would  surrender,  but  these 
were  the  flower  of  the  army,  whose  loss  saddened 
the  whole  camp,  when  the  enemy's  exulting  cheers 
told  the  story  of  the  disaster,  at  break  of  day. 
About  a  hundred  and  eighty-nine  men  were  either 
drowned,  killed,  or  taken  in  this  desperate 
encounter.  It  was  an  exploit  worthy  of  the  men, 


I  14  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

but  there  was  not  one  chance  in  ten  of  its  being 
successful.  For  once  Pepperell  had  allowed 
feeling  to  get  the  better  of  judgment  by  taking 
that  chance. 

Pepperell  could  now  say  to  Warren  that  his 
proposal  would  not  be  agreed  to.  His  effective 
force  had  been  reduced  by  sickness  to  twenty-one 
hundred  men,  six  hundred  of  whom  were  at  that 
moment  absent  from  camp.  As  a  compliance  with 
Warren's  requisition  for  sixteen  hundred  men 
would  be  equivalent  to  exposing  everything  to  the 
uncertain  chances  of  a  single  bold  dash,  Pepperell's 
council  very  wisely  concluded  that  it  was  far 
better  to  hold  fast  what  had  been  gained,  than  to 
risk  all  that  was  hoped  for.  They  offered  to  lend 
the  commodore  five  hundred  soldiers,  and  six 
hundred  sailors,  if  he  would  go  and  assault  the 
Island  Battery,  in  his  turn,  but  Warren's  only 
-reply  was  to  urge  the  completion  of  the  Light- 
house Battery  for  that  work. 

The  siege  had  now  continued  thirty  days  with- 
out decisive  results.  So  far  Duchambon  had 
showed  no  sign  of  yielding,  and  Pepperell  found 
it  difficult  to  get  information  as  to  the  state  of  the 


I 

THE    SIEGE    CONTINUED  I  I  5 

garrison.  An  expedient  was  therefore  hit  upon 
which  was  calculated  to  test  both  the  temper  and 
condition  of  the  besieged  thoroughly  :  for  although 
the  capture  of  the  Vigilant  had  been  witnessed 
from  the  walls  of  Louisburg,  it  had  not  produced 
the  impression  that  the  besiegers  had  expected. 
This  was  the  key  to  what  now  took  place. 

Maisonforte,  captain  of  the  Vigilant,  was  still 

a  prisoner  on  board  the  fleet.     He  was  given  to 

understand    that    the    provincials  were 

Effect  of 

stratagem  greatly  exasperated  over  the  cruel  treat- 
ment of  some  prisoners,  who  had  been 
murdered  after  they  were  taken,  and  he  was  asked 
to  write  to  Duchambon  informing  him  just  how 
the  French  prisoners  were  treated,  to  the  end  that 
such  barbarities  as  had  been  complained  of  might 
cease,  and  retaliation  be  avoided. 

Maisonforte  readily  fell  into  the  trap  laid  for 
him.  He  unhesitatingly  wrote  the  letter  as 
requested,  it  was  sent  to  Duchambon  by  a  flag, 
(and  was  delivered  by  an  officer  who  understood 
French,  in-order  to  observe  its  effect.  The  letter 
thus  conveyed  to  Duchambon  the  disagreeable 
news  of  the  Vigilant's  capture,  of  which  he  had 


Il6  THE   TAKING   OF    LOUISBURG 

been  ignorant,  and  it  made  a  visible  impression. 
He  now  knew  that  his  determination  to  hold  out 
in  view  of  the  expected  succors  from  France,  was 
of  no  further  avail.  This  correspondence  took 
place  on  the  /th. 

By  the  arrival  of  ships  destined  for  the  New- 
foundland station,  the  fleet  had  been  increased  to 
eleven  ships  carrying  five  hundred  and  forty  guns. 
On  the  Qth  two  deserters  came  into  our  lines,  who 
said  that  the  garrison  could  not  hold  out  much 
longer  unless  relieved.  On  the  nth,  which  was 
the  anniversary  of  the  accession  of  George  II.,  a 
general  bombardment  took  place,  in 

Lighthouse 

Battery  which  the  new  Lighthouse  Battery 
joined,  for  the  first  time.  The  effect 
of  its  fire  upon  the  Island  Battery  was  so  marked, 
that  Warren  now  declared  himself  ready  to  join  in 
a  general  attack,  whenever  the  wind  should  be  fair 
for  it.  For  this  attempt  Pepperell  pushed  forward 
his  own  preparations  most  vigorously.  Boats  were 
got  ready  to  land  troops  at  different  parts  of  the 
town.  The  Circular  Battery  was  abowt  silenced. 
All  the  1 3th,  I4th,  and  I5th  a  furious  bombard- 
ment was  kept  up.  Our  marksmen  swept  the 


THE    SIEGE    CONTINUED  1 1/ 

streets  of  the  doomed  city,  with  musketry,  from 
the  advanced  trenches,  so  that  no  one  could  show 
his  head  in  any  part  of  it  without  being  instantly 
riddled  with  balls.  The  artillerists  at  the  Island 
Battery  were  driven  from  their  posts,  some  even 

Island  Battery  taking  ref USG  f rOm  OUr  shells  ty  running 

silenced.  mto  foe  sea_  Our  boats  now  passed  in 
and  out  of  the  harbor  freely,  with  supplies,  without 
molestation.  It  was  evident  that  the  fall  of  this 
much  dreaded  bulwark  had  brought  the  siege 
practically  to  a  close. 

On  the  1 4th  the  whole  fleet  came  to  an  anchor 
off  the  harbor  in  line  of  battle.  It  made  a 
splendid  and  imposing  array.  At  the  same  time 
the  troops  were  mustered  under  arms,  and 
exhorted  to  do  their  full  duty  when  the  order 
should  be  given  them  to  advance  upon  the  enemy's 
works.  In  the  midst  of  these  final  preparations 
for  a  combined  and  decisive  assault,  an  ominous 
silence  brooded  over  the  doomed  city.  It  was 
clear  to  all  that  the  crisis  was  at  hand. 

Duchambon  felt  that  he  had  now  done  all  that  a 
brave  and  resolute  captain  could  for  the  defence 
of  the  fortress.  He  saw  an  overwhelming  force 


Il8  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

about  to  throw  itself  with  irresistible  power  upon 
his  dismantled  walls,  in  every  assailable  part  at 
once.  His  every  hope  of  help  from  without  had 
failed  him.  Food  for  his  men  and  powder  for  his 
guns  were  nearly  exhausted.  He  was  now  con- 
fronted with  the  soldier's  last  dread  alternative  of 
meeting  an  assault  sword  in  hand,  with  but  faint 
prospect  of  success,  or  of  lowering  the  flag  he 
had  so  gallantly  defended.  The  wretched  inhabit- 
ants, who  had  endured  every  privation  cheerfully, 
so  long  as  there  was  hope,  earnestly  entreated  him 
to  spare  them  the  horrors  of  storm  and  pillage. 
On  the  1 5th,  in  the  afternoon,  while  the  two 
chiefs  of  the  expedition  were  in  consultation 
together,  Duchambon  sent  a  flag  to  Peppercll 
proposing  a  suspension  of  hostilities  until  terms 
of  capitulation  should  be  agreed  upon.  This  was 
at  once  granted  until  eight  o'clock  of  the  following 
morning.  Duchambon's  proposals  were  then 
submitted  and  rejected  as  inadmissible,  but 
The  Fortress  counter  proposals  were  sent  him,  to 
surrenders.  wnich,  on  the  same  day,  he  gave  his 
assent,  by  sending  hostages  to  both  Pepperell  and 
Warren,  saving  only  that  the  garrison  should  be 


THE    SIEGE    CONTINUED  1 19 

allowed  to  march  out  with  the  honors  of  war. 
For  reasons  to  be  looked  for,  no  doubt,  in  his  pride 
as  a  professional  soldier,  and  in  his  reluctance  to 
treat  with  any  other,  he  addressed  separate  notes 
to  the  land  and  naval  commanders.  As  neither 
felt  disposed  to  stand  upon  a  point  of  mere 
punctilio,  Duchambon's  request  was  immediately 
acceded  to.  A  striking  difference,  however,  is  to 
be  observed  between  Pepperell's  and  Warren's 
replies  to  the  French  commander.  In  his  own 
Pepperell  generously,  and  honorably,  makes  the 
full  ratification  of  this  condition  subject  to 
Warren's  approval.  In  the  commodore's  there  is 
not  one  word  found  concerning  the  general  of  the 
land  forces,  or  of  his  approbation  or  disapprobation, 
any  more  than  if  he  had  never  existed  ;  but  in 
Warren's  note  the  extraordinary  condition  is 
annexed  "  that  the  keys  of  the  town  be  delivered 
to  such  officers  and  troops  as  I  shall  appoint  to 
receive  them,  and  that  all  the  cannon,  warlike  and 
other  stores  in  the  town,  be  also  delivered  up  to 
the  said  officers." 

On  the  i/th  Warren  took  formal  possession  of 
the  Island  Battery,  and  shortly  after  went  into  the 


I2O  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

city  himself  to  confer  with  the  governor.  In  the 
meantime,  conceiving  it  to  be  his  right  to  receive 
the  surrender,  Pepperell  had  informed  the  governor 
of  his  intention  to  put  a  detachment  of  his  own 
troops  in  occupation  of  the  city  defences  that 
same  afternoon.  This  communication  was  imme- 
diately shown  to  Warren,  who  at  once  addressed 
Pepperell,  in  evident  irritation,  upon  the  "  irregu- 
larity "  of  his  proceedings,  until  the  articles  of 
surrender  should  have  been  formally  signed  and 
sealed.  The  fact  that  he  had  just  proposed 
to  receive  the  surrender  of  the  fortress  himself 
was  not  even  referred  to,  nor  does  it  appear  that 
Pepperell  ever  knew  of  it.  One  cannot  overlook, 
therefore,  the  presence  of  some  unworthy  manoeu- 
vring, seconded  by  Duchambon's  professional 
vanity,  to  claim  and  obtain  a  share  of  the  honor 
of  this  glorious  achievement,  not  only  unwarranted 
by  the  part  the  navy  had  taken  in  it,  since  it  had 
never  fired  a  shot  into  Louisburg,  or  lost  a  man 
by  its  fire :  but  calculated  to  mislead  public  opinion 
in  England. 

An    unpublished    letter    of    General    Dwight, 
written  three  days  after  the  entry  of  the  provincial 


THE    SIEGE    CONTINUED  123. 

troops,  relates  the  closing  scenes  of  this  truly 
memorable  contest.  It  runs  as  follows  :  — 

"We  entered  the  city  on  Monday  last  (i/th) 
about  five  o'clock  P.M.,  with  colors  flying,  drums, 
hautboys,  violins,  trumpets,  etc.  Gentlemen  and 
ladies  caressing  (the  French  inhabitants)  as  well 
they  might,  for  a  New  England  dog  would  have 
died  in  the  holes  we  drove  them  to  —  I  mean  the 
casemates  where  they  dwelt  during  the  siege. 

"This  fortress  is  so  valuable,  as  well  as  large 
and  extensive,  that  we  may  say  the  one  half  has 
not  been  conceived.  .  .  .  Sometimes  I  am  ready 
to  say  a  thousand  men  in  a  thousand  years  could 
not  effect  it.  Words  cannot  convey  the  idea  of 
it.  ...  One  half  of  ye  warlike  stores  for  such  a 
siege  were  not  laid  in ;  however,  the  Vigilant 
(French  supply  ship)  being  taken  and  Commodore 
Warren's  having  some  supply  of  stores  from  New 
England  was  very  happy,  and  so  it  is  that  his 
readiness  has  been  more  than  equal  to  his 
ability." 

Governor  Duchambon  puts  his  whole  force  at 
thirteen  hundred  men  at  the  beginning  of  the 
siege,  and'at  eleven  hundred  at  its  close.  About 


124  THE    TAKING    OF   LOUISBURG 

two  thousand  men  were,  however,  included  in  the 
capitulation,  of  which  number  six  hundred  and 
fifty  were  veteran  troops.  The  besiegers'  shot  had 
wrought  destruction  in  the  city.  There  was  not 
a  building  left  unharmed  or  even  habitable,  by  the 
fifteen  thousand  shot  and  shells  that  Pepperell's  m 
batteries  had  thrown  into  it. 

When  Pepperell  saw  the  inside  of  Louisburg 
he  probably  realized  for  the  first  time  the  magni- 
tude of  the  task  he  had  undertaken.  On  looking 
around  him,  he  said,  with  the  expeditionary  motto 
in  mind  no  doubt,  "  The  Almighty,  of  a  truth,  has 
been  with  us." 

As  the  expedition  began,  so  it  now  ended,  with 
a  prayer,  which  has  come  down  to  us  as  a  part  of 
its  history.  Pepperell  celebrated- his  entry  into 
Louisburg  by  giving  a  dinner  to  his  officers. 
When  they  were  seated  at  table,  the  general 
called  upon  his  old  friend  and  neighbor,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Moody  of  York,  to  ask  the  Divine  blessing. 
As  the  parson's  prayers  were  proverbial  for 
their  length,,  the  countenances  of  the  guests  fell 
when  he  arose  from  his  chair,  but  to  every- 
body's surprise  the  venerable  chaplain  made  his 


THE    SIEGE    CONTINUED  125 

model  and  pithy  appeal  to  the  throne  of  grace  in 
these  words  : 

"  Good  Lord  !  we  have  so  many  things  to  thank 
thee  for,  that  time  will  be  infinitely  too  short  to  do 
it  :  we  must  therefore  leave  it  for  the  work  of 
eternity." 

1  GENERAL  JOHN  NIXON  is  one  of  those  referred  to. 

2  DOUGLASS  (Summary),  BELKNAP  ("History  of  New  Hampshire") 
and  HUTCHI'NSON   ("  History  of  Massachusetts  Bay  ")  have  accounts  of 
the  Louisburg  expedition.     Douglass  and  Hutchinson  wrote  contempo- 
raneously, and  were  well  informed,  the  latter  especially,  upon  all  points 
relating  to  the  inception  and  organization.     Of  their  military  criticism  it 
is  needless  to  speak.     There  is  a  host  of  authorities,  both    French  and 
English,  most  of  which  are  collected  in  Vol.  V.  "  Narrative  and  Critical 
History  of  America." 

3  RICHARD   GRIDLEY   subsequently  laid   out   the  works   at    Bunker 
Hill  and  Dorchester  Heights,  in  much  the  same  manner. 

4  SHIRLEY'S   second  messenger,   Captain   Loring,   on   presenting  his 
despatches,  was  allowed  but  twelve  hours  in  London,  being  then  ordered 
on  board  the  Princess  Mary,  one  of  the  ships  referred  to. 


126  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 


AFTERTHOUGHTS 

AND  now  comes  the  strangest  part  of  the  story. 
We  get  quite  accustomed  to  thinking  of  the 
v  American  colonies  as  the  football  of  European 
diplomacy,  our  reading  of  history  has  fully  pre- 
pared us  for  that :  but  we  are  not  prepared  to  find 
events  in  the  New  World  actually  shaping  the 
course  of  those  in  the  Old.  In  a  word,  England 
lost  the  battle  in  Europe,  but  won  it  in  America. 
France  was  confounded  at  seeing  the  key  to 
Canada  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  she  had  just 
beaten.  England  and  France  were  like  two 
duellists  who  have  had  a  scuffle,  in  the  course  of 
which  they  have  exchanged  weapons.  Instead  of 
dictating  terms,  France  had  to  compromise  mat- 
ters. For  the  sake  of  preserving  her  colonial 
possessions,  she  now  had  to  give  up  her  dear- 
bought  conquests  on  the  continent  of  Europe. 
Hostilities  were  suspended.  All  the  belligerents 


AFTERTHOUGHTS  I2/ 

agreed  to  restore  what  they  had  taken  from  each 
other,  and  cry  quits  ;  but  it  is  plain  that  France 
would  never  have  consented  to  such  a  settlement 
at  a  time  when  'her  adversaries  were  so  badly 
crippled,  when  all  England  was  in  a  ferment,  and 
she  hurrying  back  her  troops  from  Holland  in 
order  to  put  down  rebellion  at  home,  thus  leaving 
the  coalition  of  which  she  was  the  head  to  stand 
or  fall  without  her.  France  would  not  have 
stayed  her  victorious  march,  we  think,  under  such 
circumstances  as  these,  unless  the  nation's  atten- 
tion had  been  forcibly  recalled  to  the  gravity  of 
the  situation  in  America. 

In  some  respects  this  episode  of  history  recalls 
the  story  of  the  mailed  giant,  armed  to  the  teeth, 
and  of  the  stripling  with  his  sling. 

As  all  the  conquests  of  this  war  were  restored 
by  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Cape  Breton 
went  to  France  again. 

Thus  had  New  England  made  herself  felt  across 
the  Atlantic  by  an  exhibition  of  power,  as 
unlooked-for  as  it  was  suggestive  to  thoughtful 
men.  To  some  it  was  merely  like  that  put  forth 
by  the  infant  Hercules,  in  his  cradle.  But  to 


128  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

England,  the  unnatural  mother,  it  was  a  notice 
that  the  child  she  had  neglected  was  coming  to 
manhood,  ere  long  to  claim  a  voice  in  the  disposal 
of  its  own  affairs. 

To  New  England  herself  the  consequences  of 
her  great  exploit  were  very  marked.  The  martial 
spirit  was  revived.  In  the  trenches  of  Louisburg 
was  the  training-school  for  the  future  captains  of 
the  republic.  Louisburg  became  a  watchword  and 
a  tradition  to  a  people  intensely  proud  of  their 
traditions.  Not  only  had  they  made  themselves 
felt  across  the  ocean,  but  they  now  first  awoke  to 
a  better  knowledge  of  their  own  resources,  their 
own  capabilities,  their  own  place  in  the  empire, 
and  here  began  the  growth  of  that  independent 
spirit  which,  but  for  the  prompt  seizure  of  a 
golden  opportunity,  might  have  lain  dormant  for 
years.  Probably  it  would  be  too  much  to  say  that 
the  taking  of  Louisburg  opened  the  eyes  of 
discerning  men  to  the  possibility  of  a  great 
empire  in  the  West ;  yet,  if  we  are  to  look  about 
us  for  underlying  causes,  we  know  not  where  else 
to  find  a  single  event  so  likely  to  give  birth  to 
speculative  discussion,  or  a  new  and  enlarged 


AFTERTHOUGHTS  I2Q 

direction  in  the  treatment  of  public  concerns. 
What  had  been  done  would  always  be  pointed  to 
as  evidence  of  what  might  be  done  again.  So  we 
have  considered  the  taking  of  Louisburg,  in  so 
far  as  the  colonies  were  concerned,  as  the  event 
of  its  epoch.1 

Nor  would  these  discussions  be  any  the  less 
likely  to  arise,  or  to  grow  any  the  less  threatening 
to  the  future  of  crown  and  colony,  when  it  became 
known  that  to  balance  her  accounts  with  other 
powers  England  had  handed  over  Cape  Breton  to 
France  again,  thus  putting  in  her  hand  the  very 
weapon  that  New  England  had  just  wrested  from 
her,  as  the  pledge  to  her  own  security.  The  work 
was  all  undone  with  a  stroke  of  the  pen.  The 
colonies  were  still  to  be  the  football  of  European 
politics. 

Nobody  in  the  colonies  supposed  this  would  be 
the  reward  of  their  sacrifices  —  that  they  should 
be  deliberately  sold  by  the  home  government,  or 
that  France,  after  being  once  disarmed,  would  be 
quietly  told  to  go  on  strengthening  her  American 
Gibraltar  as  much  as  she  liked.  Yet  this  was 
what  really  happened,  notwithstanding  the  Duke 


I3O  THE    TAKING    OF    LOUISBURG 

of  Newcastle's  bombastic  declaration  that  "  if 
France  was  master  of  Portsmouth,  he  would  hang 
the  man  who  should  give  up  Cape  Breton  in 
exchange  for  it." 

King  George,  who  was  in  Hanover  when  he 
heard  of  the  capture  of  Louisburg,  sent  word  to 
Pepperell  that  he  would  be  made  a  baronet,  thus 
distinguishing  him  as  the  proper  chief  of  the 
expedition.  This  distinction,  which  really  made 
Pepperell  the  first  colonist  of  his  time,  was  nobly 
won  and  worthily  worn.  After  four  years  of 
importunity  the  colonies  succeeded  in  getting 
their  actual  expenses  reimbursed  to  them,  which 
was  certainly  no  more  than  their  dues,  considering 
that  they  had  been  fighting  the  battles  of  the 
mother  country.2 

Warren  was  made  an  admiral.  The  navy  came 
in  for  a  large  amount  of  prize  money,  obtained 
from  ships  that  were  decoyed  into  Louisburg 
after  it  fell,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  army.3  This 
disposition  of  the  spoils  was  highly  resented  by 
the  army,  who  very  justly  alleged  that,  while  the 
success  of  the  army  without  the  fleet  might  be 
open  to  debate,  there  could  be  no  question  what- 


AFTERTHOUGHTS.  13! 

ever   of   the    fleet's    inability  to    take    Louisburg 
without  the  army. 

1  THE   SURRENDER  caused  great   rejoicing  in  the   colonies,  as  was 
natural  it  should,  with  all   except  those  who  had  always  predicted  its 
failure.     For  some  reason  the  news  did  not  reach  Boston  until  July  2,  in 
the  night.     At  daybreak  the  inhabitants  were  aroused  from  their  slumbers 
by  the  thunder  of  cannon.     The  whole  day  was  given   up  to  rejoicings. 
A   public   thanksgiving  was  observed  on    the   iSth.     The   news   reached 
London  on  the  2oth.     The  Tower  guns  were  fired,  and  at  night  London 
was  illuminated.     Similar  demonstrations    occurred  in  all  the  cities  and 
large  towns  of  the  kingdom.     At  Versailles  the  news  caused  deep  gloom. 
De  Luynes  speaks  of  it  thus  in  his  Memoirs:  "  People  have  been  willing 
to  doubt  about  this  affair  of  Louisburg,  but  unhappily  it  is  only  too  cer- 
tain.    These  misfortunes  have  given  rise  to  altercations  among  ministers. 
It  is  urged  that  M.  Maurepas  is  at  fault  in  having  allowed  Louisburg  to 
fall  for  want  of  munitions.     The  friends  of  M.  Maurepas  contend  that  he 
did  all  that  was  possible,  but  could   not  obtain  the  necessary  funds  from 
the  Treasury."    The  government  got  ready  two  fleets  to  retake  Louisburg. 
One  was  scattered  or  sunk  by  storms  in   1746,  and  one  .was  destroyed  by 
Lord  Anson,  in  1747,  off  Cape  Finisterre. 

2  THE    AMOUNT   was   £183,649  to   Massachusetts,   .£16,355  to  New 
Hampshire.  £28,863  to  Connecticut,  and  £6,332  to  Rhode  Island.     Quite 
a  large  portion  was  paid  in  copper  coins. 

3  AMONG  OTHERS  the  navy  took  a  Spanish  Indiaman,  having  #2,000,- 
ooo,  besides  gold  and  silver  ingots  to  a  large  value,  stowed  under  her  cargo 
of  cocoa.     The  estimated  value  of  all  the   prizes  was  nearly  a  million 
sterling,  of  which  enormous  sum  only  one  colonial  vessel  got  a  share. 


THE   END 


INDEX 


ACADIA  (Nova  Scotia),  Louisburg 
designed  to  protect,  29. 

Acadians,  refuse  to  emigrate,  34 ; 
and  refuse  to  become  British 
subjects,  35  ;  why  called  Neutrals, 
36 ;  desire  to  remove  elsewhere, 

36- 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  Peace  of,  127. 

Annapolis,  N.  S.,  attempted  capt- 
ure of,  43  ;  attack  on,  frustrated, 
note  100. 

Auchmuty,  Robert,  proposes  the 
taking  of  Louisburg,  note  58. 

BOSTON,  defenceless  condition  of, 
ii. 

Bradstreet,  Colonel  John,  at  Louis- 
burg, 70. 

Brooks,  Captain,  killed  at  Louis- 
burg, 113. 

CANADA,  the  key  to,  12  ;  its  politi- 
cal and  economic  weaknesses,  24 
et  seq. ;  compared  with  the  Eng- 
lish colonies,  25  ;  the  fur  monop- 
oly, 26 ;  scheme  for  building  up 
the  colony,  28. 

Canso,  seized  from  Louisburg,  43, 
note  45  ;  prisoners  taken  there 
prove  useful,  49 ;  army  rendezvous 
at,  69 ;  environs  of,  76 ;  works 
thrown  up  at,  77. 

Cape  Breton  Island,  face  of  the 
country,  16  ;  mountains  of,  17; 
Gabarus  Bay,  23  ;  first  sugges- 
tions of  its  importance  to 
Canada,  28  ;  natural  products  of, 
29;  advantageous  situation  as  a 


port  of  delivery  and  supply,  29  ; 
left  to  Canada  by  stupid  diplo- 
macy, 30  ;  its  chief  harbors,  31  ;, 
the  Bras  d'Or,  31  ;  called  He 
Koyale,  32  ;  plan  for  getting 
colonists,  33,  34  ;  strategic  points 
on  the  straits,  76 ;  ice  blockade 
of,  77  ;  restored  to  France,  127. 

Cape  Breton  Coast,  approach  to, 
14  ;  blockaded  by  ice,  77. 

Circular  battery  of  Louisburg,  its 
design,  93  ;  silenced,  116. 

Coffin,  Moses,  of  Newbury,  Mass., 
anecdote  of,  104. 

Connecticut  in  Louisburg  expedi- 
tion, 57;  her  forces  join  Pepper- 
ell,  78. 

DAUPHIN  BASTION,  of  Louisburg, 
93  ;  destructive  fire  upon,  no. 

De  Costebello,  at  Louisburg,  33. 

De  Saxe,  Marshal,  defeats  the 
English,  41. 

Duchambon,  commander  of  Louis- 
burg, 84  ;  recalls  a  detachment, 
95 ;  refuses  to  surrender,  96 ; 
changes  his  mind,  117;  and  opens 
a  treaty,  118. 

Dwight,  Joseph,  at  Louisburg,  66 
and  note  71. 

ENGLISH  HARBOR  (Louisburg),  31. 

Expeditionary  Army,  its  composi- 
tion, 66  ;  and  equipment,  67,  68  ; 
favoring  conditions,  68  ;  sets  sail 
for  Louisburg,  69  ;  at  Canso,  69  ; 
council  of  war,  75  ;  sails  for 
Louisburg,  80  ;  lands  at  Gabarus 


134 


INDEX 


Bay,  84 ;  not  backed  up  by  the 
navy,  90  ;  transportation  of  artil- 
lery to  the  front,  94 ;  it  tells  on 
the  men,  95  ;  the  camp  and  camp 
life,  101  et  seq. 

FLAT     POINT    COVE,    our    army 

camps  at,  85. 

Fontenoy,  English  defeated  at,  41. 
•Franklin,  Benjamin,  has  no  faith  in 

Lcuisburg  expedition,  57. 

GABARUS  BAY,  the  back  door  to 
Louisburg,  23  ;  Pepperell  lands 
at,  80,  81. 

Gibson,  James,  volunteers  for  Louis- 
burg,  63,  note  70. 

Green  Hill,  Louisburg  shelled  from, 

95- 

Gridley,  Richard,  engineer  at  Louis- 
burg, 66;  an  apt  scholar,  105, 
note  125. 

HALE,  ROBERT,  at  Louisburg,  note 

7i- 
Hodges,  Joseph,  at  Louisburg,  note 

72. 
Hutchinson,  Thomas,  gives  casting 

vote  for  attacking  Louisburg,  55. 

ISLAND  BATTERY,  situation  of,  15; 
its  value  to  the  besieged,  93  and 
note  100  ;  disastrous  attack  upon, 
112,  113;  its  fire  silenced,  116; 
in  our  hands,  119. 

He  Royale,  see  Cape  Breton,  32. 

Isle  Madame,  or  Arichat,  76. 

LIGHTHOUSE  POINT,  14;  is  seized 
and  fortified,  109. 

Louisburg,  the  approach  to,  14  ;  the 
harbor,  15;  old  city,  15;  old 
fortifications  perambulated,  17; 
hills  back  of,  17;  natural  de- 
fences of,  18 ;  demolition  of  the 
works,  19 ;  and  present  state  of, 
19  ;  Citadel,  20 ;  natural  obstacles 
to  surmount,  21  ;  bomb-proofs, 
21  ;  impregnable  from  sea,  21 ; 
graveyard  and  its  inmates,  22  ; 


Royal  Battery,  23  ;  reasons  why 
the  fortress  was  erected,  24  et 
seq. ;  to  be  a  great  mart,  28 ; 
to  help  Acadia,  29  ;  called 
English  Harbor,  31  ;  chosen 
for  a  fortress,  32 ;  why  called 
Louisburg,  32  ;  operations  be- 
gun, 33 ;  prisoners  shipped  to, 
from  France,  37  ;  strength  and 
cost  of  the  fortress,  38  and  note 
45  ;  could  be  defended  by  women, 
39 ;  its  armament,  39 ;  garrison 
sallies  out  upon  Nova  Scotia,  44  ; 
its  fall  the  salvation  of  New  Eng- 
land, 47  ;  schemes  for  its  capt- 
ure, 50 ;  its  garrison  mutinies, 
51 ;  forces  being  raised  against  it, 
56,57;  early  suggestions  for  its 
conquest,  note  58  ;  is  blockaded, 
73 ;  is  invested,  89 ;  its  defences 
as  related  to  the  siege,  93 ;  prog- 
ress of  siege  operations,  95  et 
seq. ;  summoned  to  surrender,  96  ; 
breaching  batteries,  106  ;  progress 
of  siege,  109;  a  relieving  vessel 
gets  in,  no ;  capture  of  the 
Vigilant,  no;  stratagem  tried, 
115  ;  its  success,  11553  general 
bombardment,  1 16  ;  a  suspension 
of  arms,  118  ;  the  surrender,  123  ; 
the  garrison,  123,  124;  impor- 
tance to  Great  Britain  as  a  politi- 
cal make-weight,  126  et  seq. ;  re- 
stored to  France,  127 ;  many- 
sided  importance  of  the  ccnquest 
to  the  colonies,  128,  129  ;  disgust 
in  the  colonies  at  its  restoration, 
129;  cost  of  the  campaign,  note 
131  ;  rejoicings,  note  131. 

MESERVE,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  his 
services  at  Louisburg,  94. 

Micmacs  of  Cape  Breton,  37. 

Mira  River,  settlements  on,  16. 

Moody,  Rev.  Samuel,  his  pithy 
prayer,  124. 

Moore,  Samuel,  at  Louisburg,  note 

72- 

Moulton,  Jeremiah,  at  Louisburg, 
note  71 ;  destroys  St.  Peter's,  96. 


INDEX 


135 


NEWCASTLE,  Duke  of,  anecdote  of, 

44- 

New  England  alarmed  by  the  crea- 
tion of  Louisburg,  39  ;  dreads  the 
beginning  of  war,  42  ;  war  is  de- 
clared, 43  ;  menace  to  her  com- 
merce and  fisheries,  46,  47  ; 
aroused  to  take  Loiiisburg,  54, 
55  ;  extraordinary  war  measures 
in,  56,  57;  quality  of  expedition- 
ary army,  62,  63  ;  enthusiasm  in 
enlisting,  64  ;  reimbursed  lor  her 
expenses,  note  131. 

Newfoundland,  French  removed 
from,  33. 

New  Hampshire  contingent,  69  ; 
note  72. 

New  Jersey  in  Louisburg  expedi- 
tion, 57. 

New  York  contributes  to  Louisburg 
expedition,  57. 

Nixon,  John,  note  125. 

Nova  Scotia  (Acadia)  turned  over  to 
England,  30  ;  invaded,  43  ;  re- 
lieved, 95. 

PENNSYLVANIA  in  Louisburg  expe- 
dition, 57. 

Pepperell,  William,  chosen  to  com- 
mand, 60 ;  his  qualifications,  61, 
62  ;  impetus  given  by  him  to  the 
project,  63,  64 ;  his  regiment, 
note  70 ;  hampered  by  instruc- 
tions, 75  ;  finds  Louisburg 
blocked  up  by  ice,  77 ;  hails 
Warren's  arrival  with  joy,  78; 
confident  of  driving  the  enemy 
from  Cape  Breton,  79 ;  finds 
Shirley's  plan  impracticable,  83  ; 
finds  his  task  greater  than  he 
had  supposed,  90 ;  his  advances 


A3MUIU      AJtllLCl^,    1  1  *i  ,     UU911C9     1U1- 

ward  preparations  for  a  gsneral 
assault.  1 16  ;  grants  an  armistice, 
1 18;  his  conduct  contrasted  with 
Warren's,  119;  made  a  baronet, 
130. 
Pitts,  Ebcnezer,  at  Louisburg,  note 


Pomeroy,  Major  Seth,  at  Louis- 
burg, 89;  his  record,  note  100. 

QUEBEC,  as  the  bulwark  of  Canada, 
n. 

RAUDOTS,  father  and  son,  their 
scheme  for  putting  new  life  into 
Canada,  26  ;  it  proposes  a  great 
naval  mart  at  Cape  Breton,  28. 

Rhode  Island  in  Louisburg  expedi- 
tion, 5'). 

Richmond,  Sylvester,  at  Louisburg, 
note  71. 

Koyal  Battery,  situation  and  impor- 
tance of,  23  ;  taken,  86  ;  a' tempt 
to  retake  it,  87  ;  its  importance  to 
Americans,  88. 

Ryal,  Captain,  sent  to  England, 

41- 
ST.  ANNE,  described,  31. 

Saint  Ovide,  at  Louisburg,  35. 

St.  Peter's,  destruction  of,  deter- 
mined on,  76 ;  is  effected,  96. 

Seacoast  defences  of  Mexico,  Cuba, 
etc.,  9;  of  the  English  colonies, 
10,  ii  ;  of  Canada,  n. 

Shirley,  Gov.  William,  saves  Annap- 
olis. 43  ;  notifies  ministry,  44  ; 
writes  Commodore  Warren,  44  ; 
grasps  the  situation,  48  ;  his  per- 
sonal traits,  48,  49 ;  determines 
to  take  Louisburg,  50  ;  applies  to 
legislature,  52  ;  meets  defeat,  53  ; 
arouses  public  sentiment,  54  ; 
carries  his  point,  55;  sets  to 
work,  56 ;  hears  from  Warren, 
69 ;  attempts  to  order  plan  of 
attack,  73,  74. 

Straits  of  Canso,  31. 

TOURNAY,  invested,  41. 
Tufts,  William,  his  bravery,  113. 
Tyng,   Commodore    Edward,    com- 
mands  colonial    fleet,    67 ;    nuie 

72- 

UTRECHT,  how  the  Peace  of,  affect; 
the  colonies,  30. 


136 


INDEX 


VAUGHAN,  WILLIAM,  who  he  was 
and  what  he  did,  49,  50  ;  note  58  ; 
volunteers  for  Louisburg,  63  ; 
leads  a  scouting  party,  85 ;  and 
takes  Royal  Battery,  86. 

Vigilant,  French  war-ship,  taken, 
no. 

WALDO,  SAMUEL,  at  Louisburg,  67 
and  note  71  ;  occupies  Royal 
Battery,  and  fires  first  shot,  89. 

War  of  the  Austrian  Succession,  its 
policy  outlined,  40  ;  produces  war 
between  England  and  France,  41 ; 


hostilities  begin  at  Nova  Scotia, 

44- 

Warren,  Commodore  Peter,  orders 
sent  to,  44  ;  arrives  at  Canso 
and  proceeds  off  Louisburg,  78 ; 
takes  the  Vigilant,  no;  is  re-en- 
forced, in  ;  his  plan  for  taking 
the  city,  in  ;  agrees  to  a  genenil 
attack,  116 ;  he  ignores  Pepperell, 
1 19  ;  made  an  admiral,  130. 

Whitefield,  Rev.  George,  62  ;  writes 
a  motto  for  the  flag,  65. 

Wolcott,  Gen.  Roger,  67  and  note 
7'- 


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The  Old  Bell  of  Independence  and  Other  Stories  of  the  Revolution 
The  Father  of  his  Country    A  Young-Folk's  Life  of  Washington 
The  Friend  of  Washington     A  Young-Folks'  Life  of  Lafayette 
The  Great  Peace-Maker    A  Young-Folks'  Life  of  Penn 
Poor  Richard's  Story    A  Young-Folks  Life  of  Franklin 

THE    LIVE    BOYS'    SERIES    6  vols    Illustrated 
Live  Boys  in  Texas  Young  Trail  Hunters 

Live  Boys  in  the  Black  Hills       Crossing  the  Quicksands 
Paul  and  Persis  Young  Silver  Seekers 

NATURAL    HISTORY    SERIES     By  Mrs.  R.  LEE     Illus- 
trated by  HARRISON  WEIR    5  vols. 

Anecdotes  of  Animals  The  African  Crusoes 

Anecdotes  of  Birds  Reptiles  and    The  Australian  Crusoes 
Fishes  The  Australian  Wanderers 

THE   WILD    SCENES    LIBRARY    5  vols.    Illustrated 
Wild  Scenes  of  a  Hunter's  Life    Pioneer  Mothers  of  the  West 
Noble    Deeds    of    American    Gulliver's  Travels 
Women  JEsop's  Fables 

OLD  ROUGH  AND  READY  SERIES    6  vols.    Illustrated 
Old  Rough  and  Ready    Young  Folks'  Life  of  General  Zachary  Taylor 
Old  Hickory     Young  Folks'  Life  of  General  Andrew  Jackson 
The  Little  Corporal     Young  Folks'  Life  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte 
The  Swamp  Fox     Young  Folks'  Life  of  General  Francis  Marion 
The  Mill-Boy  of  the  Slashes    Young  Folks'  Life  of  Henry  Clay 
The  Great  Expounder    Young  Folks  Life  ol  Daniel  Webster 

GOOD    AND    GREAT    SERIES    6vols     Illustrated 
Good  and  Great  M«n  The  Whales  We  Caugh* 

Women  of  Worth  House  on  Wheels. 

A  Quaker  among  the  Indians  Inn  of  the  Guardian  Angel 

AROUND    THE    WORLD    LIBRARY     By  Jules  Verne 
Round  the  World  in  Eighty  Days  Wreck  of  the  Chancellor 
A  Winter  in  the  Ice 

DORA    DARLING    LIBRARY 

Dora  Darling  Dora  Darling  and  Little  Sunshine 

The  Year's  Best  Days 


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best  English  cloth  bright  colors    Any  volume  sold  separately 

CHARLEY  AND  EVA  STORIES    By  Miss  L.  C.  THURSTOK 
How  Charley  Roberts  became  a  Man 
How  Eva  Roberts  gained  her  Education 
Home  in  the  West 
Children  of  Amity  Court 

Miss  Thurston  writes  with  a  purpose.  She  is  an  admirer  of  manly  boys 
and  womanly  girls,  and  so  carries  her  characters  through  scenes  and 
situations  that  elevate  and  purify.  The  books  are  by  no  means  slow, 
being  full  of  adventures. 

GOLDEN    PROVERB    SERIES      By  Mrs.  M.  E.  BRADLEY 

and  Miss  KATE  J.  NEELY 
Birds  of  a  Feather 

Fine  Feathers  do  not  make  Fine  Birds 
Handsome  is  that  Handsome  Does 
A  Wrong  Confessed  is  Half  Redressed 
One  Good  Turn   deserves  Another 
Actions  Speak  Louder  than  Words 

Two  capital  story-tellers,  "  birds  of  a  feather,"  have  flocked  together, 
and  produced  from  six  old  proverbs  six  as  bright  and  taking  story-books 
as  ever  gladdened  the  hearts  of  Young  America;  showing,  indeed,  that 
"  handsome  is  that  handsome  does." 

GOLDEN    RULE    STORIES      By  Mrs.  S.  C.  B.  SAMUELS 
The  Golden  Rule  Nettie's  Trial 

The  Shipwrecked  Girl  The  Burning  Prairie 

Under  the  Sea  The  Smuggler's  Cave 

CELESTA'S    LIBRARY   for    Boys   and    Girls 
Celesta  A  Thousand  a  Year 

Crooked  and  Straight  Abel  Grey 

The  Crook  Straightened  May  Coverley 

Mrs.  Samuels  has  written  many  attractive  books.  The  scenes  and 
incidents  she  portrays  are  full  of  life,  action,  and  interest,  and  decidedly 
wholesome  and  instructive. 

SALT-WATER    DICK    STORIES    By  MAY  MANNERING 
Climbing  the  Rope  The  Little  Spaniard 

Billy  Grimes's  Favorite  Salt-Water  Dick 

Cruise  of  the  Dashaway  Little  Maid  of  Oxbow 

Not  all  tales  of  the  sea,  as  the  title  of  the  series  would  imply,  but  stories 
of  many  lands  by  a  lady  who  has  been  a  great  traveller,  and  tells  what  she 
has  seen,  in  a  captivating  way. 

UPSIDE-DOWN    STORIES     By  ROSA  ABBOTT 
Jack  of  all   Trades  Upside  Down 

Alexis  the  Runaway  The  Young  Detective 

Tommy   Hickup  The  Pinks  and  Blues 

VACAT.ON    STORIES   for    Boys   and    Girls    6  vols 

Illustrated 

Worth  not   Wealth  Karl   Keigler  or  The  Fortunes 

Country  Life  of  a  Foundling 

The  Charm  Walter  Seyton 

Holidays  at  Chestnut  Hill 

GREAT    ROSY     DIAMOND     STORIES    for    Girls 

6  vols.     Illustrated 

The  Great  Rosy  Diamond  Minnie  or  The   Little   Woman 

Daisy  or  The  Fairy  Spectacles      The  Angel  Children 
Violet  a  Fairy  Story  Little  Blossom's  Reward 

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Three  Books.     Cloth,  illustrated.     Price  for  each  book,  50  cents.     Boards, 
30  cents  net.    By  mail,  35  cents 

First  Series 

STORIES  OF  AMERICAN    HISTORY.     By  N.  S.  DODGB 

As  a  reading-book  for  the  younger  classes  in  public  and  private  schools 

(by  many  of  which  it  has  been  adopted),  it  will  be  found  of  great  value. 

"  Nobody  knows  better  than  the  author  how  to  make  a  good  story  out 
of  even  the  driest  matters  of  fact.  .  .  .  Here  are  twenty-two  of  such 
stories;  and  they  are  chosen  with  a  degree  of  skill  which  of  itself  would 
hidicate  its  author's  fitness  for  the  task,  even  if  we  had  no  other  evidence 
of  that  fitness.  There  is  no  better,  purer,  more  interesting,  or  more  in- 
structive book  for  boys." — New-  York  Hearth  and  Home 

Second  Series 

NOBLE  DEEDS  OF  OUR  FATHERS.  As  Told  by  Soldiers 
of  the  Revolution  gathered  around  the  Old  Bell  of  Independence. 
Revised  and  adapted  from  HENRY  C.  WATSON 

"  Every  phase  of  the  struggle  is  presented,  and  the  moral  and 
religious  character  of  our  forefathers,  even  when  engasjed  in  deadly  con- 
flict, is  depicted  with  great  clearness.  Thevoung  reader  —  indeed,  older 
readers  will  like  the  stories — will  be  deeply  interested  in  the  story  of 
Lafayette's  return  to  this  country,  of  reminiscences  of  Washington,  of 
the  night  before  the  battleof  Brandywine,  of  thefirst  prayer  in  Congress, 
of  the  patriotic  women  of  that  day,  stories  of  adventure  regarding  Gen. 
Wayne,  the  traitor  Arnold,  the  massacre  of  Wyoming,  the  capture  of 
Gen.  Prescott,  and  in  other  narratives  equally  interesting  and  important." 
— Norwich  Bulletin 

Third  Series 

THE  BOSTON  TEA  PARTY  and  other  Stories  of 
the  Revolution.  Relating  many  Daring  Deeds  of  the  Old 
Heroes.  By  HENRY  C.  WATSON 

"The  tales  are  full  of  interesting  material,  they  are  told  in  a  very 
g_raphic  manner,  and  give  many  incidents  of  personal  daring  and  dt-scrip- 
tions  of  famous  men  and  places.  General  Putnam's  escape,  the  fifj lit  at 
Concord,  the  patriotism  of  Mr.  Bordtn,  the  battle  of  I.unker  Hill,  the 
battle  of  Oriskany,  the  mutiny  at  Morristown  and  the  exploits  of  Peter 
Francisco  are  among  the  subjects.  Books  such  as  this  have  a  practical 
value  and  an  undeniable  charm.  History  will  never  be  dull  so  long  as 
it  is  presented  with  so  much  brightness  anci  color." — Philadelphia  Record. 

From  DAVID  S.  KECK,  A.M.,  Sv.pt.  of  Berks  County  Schools  . 

I  received  a  package  containing  "Stories  of  American  History," 
"  Boston  Tea  Party,"  and  "  Noble  Deeds  of  our  Forefathers,"  and  am 
ready  to  say  that  the  stories  are  all  historical, and  the  matter  is  presented 
in  such  simple  and  pleasing  style  that  it  will  arouse  patriotic  feelings  in 
the  heart  of  every  American,  and  at  the  same  time  awaken  a  desire  to 
study  history.  I  wish  I  could  find  at  least  a  dozen  of  the  books  named 
in  every  one  of  my  schools,  for  I  am  positive  they  would  be  productiv* 
of  much  good.  ^  " 

<-EE  AND  SHEPARD,  Publishers,  Boston 


p 


THE 


READERS 


In  Four  Fully  Illustrated  Volumes 

By  CHAS.  F.  KING 

Master  Dearborn  Grammar  School,  Boston ;  President  National  Summer  School, 
Saratoga  Springs ;  Author  of  "  Methods  and  Aids  in  Geography  " 

First  Book    HOME  AND  SCHOOL 

24O  pages    Over  125  illustrations    Price  SO  cents  net 
"  Sight  takes  the  lead  as  a  channel  of  perception." — SPENCER. 

True  concepts  of  real  geography  can  only  be  formed  through  travel  or  from 
pictures.  Travelling  is  costly ;  but  an  excellent  and  accurate  substitute  is  found 
in  the  pictures  produced  by  the  photographic  camera.  The  photographer  has  been 
round  the  world  and  made  his  report.  We  call  upon  him  to  aid  us  in  telling 
others  what  he  has  seen. 

Supplementary  reading  is  in  great  demand,  but  only  books  which  combine  the 
useful  with  the  interesting  are  worthy  of  being  introduced  into  the  school-room. 

The  four  volumes  of  the  Picturesque  Readers  now  in  course  of  preparation  are 
lot  only  intensely  interesting,  but  they  contain  all  the  "  Essentialsof  Geography  " 
in  so  compact  and  vivid  a  form  that  they  can  be  read  by  a  bright  child  of  ten  in  a 
year  as  supplementary  reading  in  school,  or  at  home  in  a  few  weeks,  thus  meeting 
the  great  demand  "  for  less  time  in  geography." 

We  call  attention  to  the  following 

POINTS  OF  SUPERIORITY 

1  Ample  use  of  pictures — over    100    large   and  elegant  pictures  in  Vol.    I. 

600  illustrations  in  the  series. 

2  All   pictures   made    from    photographs,   photographic  slides,   French    and 

English  designs,  or  by  the  best  American  artists. 

3  Written  in  narrative  style. 

4  Language  adapted  to  children's  comprehension. 

5  Carefully  prepared  by  personal  narrative,  wise  selection  and  adaptation. 

8  Equally  well  adapted  for  home  reading  and  school  purposes. 
1  Properly  graded  for  the  different  classes  in  grammar  schools. 

3  Containing  a  vast  amount  of  information  for  old  and  young,  for  teacher 
and  taught. 

9  A  happy  combination  of  the  useful  and  interesting. 

10  From  these  readers  can  be  easily  taught   Geography,   Reading,    Spelling. 

Dictation  and  Composition. 

1 1  All  mere  map  explanations  and  descriptions  carefully  avoided. 

12  Costly  in  preparation,  but  cheap  in  price. 

13  These  books  can  be  used  in  place  of,  or  in  connection  with,  geographies. 

14  These  fascinating  geographical  readers  will  take  the  place  of  the  stupid  sets 

of  map  questions  and  columns  of  statistics. 

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